


I'd kill for some KFC

by lossit_bay



Series: Bang Chan's Clan [2]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Found Family, Gay disaster Bang Chan, M/M, Magic AU, Minho isn't here I'm so sorry, Supernatural - Freeform, Urban Fantasy, Woochan are suffering as parents to chaos, and then its squad cuddle time again all good, he was pov in the last one, it's for the timeline, this gets disgustingly fluffy, until angst hits like a freight train
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-23
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2020-05-18 13:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 38,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19335154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lossit_bay/pseuds/lossit_bay
Summary: Woojin has been living as a wolf for over a year when suddenly he's arrested and forced to live as a human in Seoul for a month.It's a good thing Chan is the type to pick strangers off the street and adopt them into his misfit family.





	1. Lone Wolf

Woojin was a lone wolf by more than one definition. Or perhaps by two separate definitions. He was alone, having left his pack years ago to follow the call of adventure. And he was a wolf, for now at least.

He was currently skirting the Northern border, heading farther West than he ever had before since leaving his pack. The cities started to grow towards the capital, merging together into a sprawling mess of civilization that was difficult to navigate as a wolf without terrifying the humans.

Food was also getting scarce. Rabbits and squirrels were tasty but it took so much effort to catch them for so little reward. Deer were much better but none ventured this close to the noise of the city. Best of all was chicken, especially deep-fried, but they weren't known for strutting around the forest freshly plucked and battered. Perhaps he should turn around and head for the more prosperous mountains.

Woojin's other option was to shift and use money to get a meal in this barren land. That would require obtaining clothes and registering at the NSB to get a new print of his ID and credit card. It was a lengthy, dull process and sitting in stolen clothes with muffled human hearing always set Woojin on edge. This was one of many reasons Woojin hadn’t registered anywhere in over a year. He’d shifted a few times but had relied on his charming smile to get him food and board in exchange for easy farmwork rather than any official documents. For all they knew his name was Hanseok. 

Hanseok the human had been paid handsomely in fried chicken while Woojin the wolf startled his third potential meal of the night, sending it scurrying up a tree out of reach. Woojin whined pathetically, glad nobody was around to see a 7ft wolf toss its head in a temper tantrum. He was hungry. Hungry and tired. Hungry and tired and lonely though he would never admit it.

Woojin slumped to the ground, letting the rich scent of the earth fill his nose as he reconsidered his plan. Clearly the squirrels were ganging up on him and he wouldn’t be surprised if the rabbits were in on it too. Perhaps the river would offer more. He wasn’t good at fishing by any means but maybe if he opened his mouth and looked pitiful enough a trout would take one for the team.

The river was empty, mockingly reflecting his dull fur that was barely hiding the outline of his skeleton. He slapped the water with a paw to send ripples through the image but the current quickly pulled the surface taut again. He dived in with a growl, fighting the water as he paddled to the opposite bank. 

Woojin shook the water and negative thoughts from his head as he stood shivering on the grass. The grass was greener here and while metaphorically that might be a good omen in reality it was just the result of loss of tree cover as he strayed further from the woods. 

Woojin sneezed as his nose twitched with the new scents that had been masked by the river. Petrol, smoke, Axe body spray and chicken. Woojin was galloping towards the campfire before be knew what was happening.

The next time Woojin was capable of rational thought he was lying naked face-down on a cold and unforgiving metal floor. His whole body ached with the familiar fatigue of a shift but his wrists in particular were sharply calling out for attention.

Woojin rolled onto his side to bring his hands into view and quickly discovered the cause of his pain. His hands were handcuffed behind him and he lost balance and toppled onto his back. He stared up at a metal ceiling and metal walls.  
"Well, that's not good," Woojin grumbled to himself.

"Kim Woojin," a crisp voice spoke through the grill of his cell. He flinched, having not heard the woman approach with his reduced senses. She swung the door open and strode into the cell, high heels clicking sharply on the floor. The woman stopped in the middle of the room with the weak light of the bare light bulb casting harsh shadows and took the widest power stance she could manage in her pencil skirt.

Woojin pulled his knees to his chest, trying to maintain some resemblance of dignity. The woman rolled her eyes and tossed her glossy blonde hair over her shoulder. "Trust me, I'm not interested in that. What I am interested in is what you thought you were doing last night, Kim Woojin."

Woojin hated the way she said him name like he was the kind of person who thought he was too good for public transport.  
"I'm sorry ma'am I don't remember last night," Woojin said politely as he could. He does remember that there was chicken but something told him that piece of information would not be well received.

"Unbelievable," the woman sighed. "I can't believe I have to waste my time with people like you. Follow me," she turned and stalked back out of the room.  
Woojin didn't know what people he was being lumped with but he was certain it was undeserved. "Can I get some clothes?" He called out after her, feeling the panic rise as the clacking of her heels got fainter. 

A very bored looking guard stuck his head around the open door and lobbed a pair of threadbare and questionably stained shorts at Woojin's face. "I wouldn't keep Miss Kim waiting if I were you," he suggested and Woojin gave him a hurried bow and scrambled to put on the shorts as best he could with his hands still chained behind his back.

His bare feet slapped against the cold floor as he trailed the fading sound of Miss Kim with an occasional masked guard pointing him in the right direction when his human hearing failed him.

Miss Kim sat facing the door in a minimalistic white room. In front of her was a table displacing pictures that set of alarm bells in Woojin's head. A tent ripped to shreds; the remains of a campfire scattered across the dirt; himself, naked and feral, sprawled facedown on the ground; and four mugshots of teenage boys with bloodshot eyes.

"What did I do?" Woojin asked in a quiet, polite voice. He could guess. In fact, he had a hundred possible scenarios running through his head but none of them he wanted to be true.

Miss Kim rolled her eyes again. "You people shouldn't be allowed to just roam around if you can't control yourselves," Miss Kim muttered before pushing one of the photos towards him.  
"This is the campsite we found you at," she told him. "You'd torn the place apart for some chicken and to top it all off you shifted right in found of four humans."

Woojin's mouth opened in horror. He'd broken the golden rule- never get caught shifting. That would get him sent straight to jail. Oh god, he was already in jail.

Miss Kim smirked. "Is it all coming together now?" she asked, with no sympathy in her voice. Woojin was ready to beg her forgiveness, anything to avoid a cold metal cell, when the door burst open and a tall boy with a wide grin poked his head in.  
"Hey, Noona. We've got a 127 downtown, all hands on deck." He turned his bright grin on Woojin and Woojin hesitantly smiled back.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" Miss Kim replied.  
"Come on," the boy scoffed. "Those humans were high as kites, they don't remember a thing. Just give him probation and come with. He's tagged and I'm sure you've scared him enough, it'll be fine." The boy winked at Woojin and left as suddenly as he arrived.

The 'tag' he spoke of was a silver necklace all shifters were required to wear by law. The print his made was unique and allowed him to identify himself when he had to recover his documents from the NSB. Or in this case, allowed the council to track his movements.

"I'm only doing this because I'm sick of being stuck with petty crime." Miss Kim said, scribbling her signature at the bottom of a document dense with text and handing it to him. "You must remain in Seoul unshifted for a month. Report in to NSB every day and stay out of trouble- you will be watched. After that you're free to go but this will be noted on your record." With that dismissal, Miss Kim walked around the table and out the door without a backward glance.

When she showed no sign of returning Woojin opened the door with his elbow.  
"Hi, Miss Kim gave me this?" He turned to offer the form in his handcuffed hands to the guard outside.  
The guard took it from him and glanced it over. "She gave you a Rest M&M?" The guard seemed impressed. Woojin had no idea what that meant. Hopefully the same as 'probation'  
"Nice going," the guard continued. "Keep that safe- that's a get out of jail free card, that is."  
"So I can just go?" Woojin asked sceptically. 

The guard laughed. "I would! And as soon as possible before she's back and changes her mind. Take a left, go up the elevator to Ground. A witch will wipe this location from your mind and put you out. If you're lucky they'll drop you right at the NSB. I reckon you'll be needing your ID and clothes."  
"And preferably out of the handcuffs," Woojin said pointedly.  
The guard laughed again. This was probably the best entertainment he had seen down here in concrete excile. He reached into his belt and pulled out a key that he swiftly freed Woojin with. "Now run for it, before she comes back!"  
Woojin wasted no time doing just that, clutching his get out of jail free card as he made him way to legal freedom.


	2. Hence the wolfsbane

“Hello, welcome to 3RACHA, how can I help you,” a boy called cheerily from where he was working at a giant wooden table. He had bleach blonde hair falling into his eyes and a bright childlike smile that shone out of the hood of his black jumper.

“I need wolfsbane,” Woojin said, coming to stand at the other side of the table. He tugged at the sleeve of the worn denim jacket he'd got from NSB. It was too tight around his shoulders and he was trying not to hunch over and make people more intimidated by him. It would help if he stopped scowling too.

The boy pouted. “That’s not very nice. Have you tried being friends with the wolf?”  
Woojin quirked an eyebrow. Surely the boy could smell that he was the wolf as clearly as Woojin could smell that he was a vampire. The boy’s pout didn’t break so Woojin decided to play along.  
“I’m already friends with the wolf,” he said.  
“Why do you need the wolfsbane then?” the boy asked.  
“Because the wolf terrorised a bunch of teenagers over a KFC share bucket.” Woojin said bluntly.  
The boys eyes widened. _“Shit,”_ he said appreciatively. “I’m surprised the council doesn’t have you locked up.” Despite his words the boy didn’t seem put off by Woojin in the slightest and Woojin was immensely glad by that.

“I’m on location restriction,” Woojin admitted. “And no shifting for a month.”  
“Hence the wolfsbane,” the boy guessed, crossing the room and scaling a ladder to retrieve the dried herb from a dusty shelf.  
“Hence the wolfsbane,” Woojin echoed.

"I don't think we have enough for a month's supply," the boy said apologetically, blowing the dust off a half empty vial. "I told Sungie to do inventory last week but he must have got distracted."

In a shop like this, Woojin wouldn't be surprised. The whole place glittered and the shelves were packed with trinkets and charms Woojin had never seen the like of before.

"That's ok, however much you can give me just now is fine. It's a precaution more than anything." Woojin could feel the itch to shift under his skin after having been in his wolf form for so long. Especially in this new environment where there were so many sounds and scents he was blind to.

"A precaution against the deadly lure of KFC," the boy joked and then flushed red. "I'm so sorry- that wasn't very professional of me." He fumbled with the wolfsbane vial and tripped over a stool, barely catching himself on the edge of the table.  
"Get it together, Chris," the boy whispered harshly to himself.

"Chris?" Woojin asked, unable to stop himself smiling at the clumsy boy. "Is that your name?"  
The boy smile ruefully. "It was. Before. I'm Bang Chan now, officially, but I slip up sometimes. Chris is still me, you know?"  
"I was born a werewolf," Woojin told him. "Kim Woojin, nice to meet you" he held out his hand and Chan shook it with a cold but firm grip.

***

"So, how do you take your wolfsbane?" Chan asked. "Tea?"  
"I guess," Woojin replied. "I've never taken it before."  
"Tea is probably best," Chan suggested. "If you come upstairs I can show you how much to use and give you a dose now." He hesitated before adding,"you're kind of shaking."  
"I am?" Woojin said in surprise but sure enough, he couldn't hold his hand steady. "I've not been human in a while," he admitted.

"That's ok," Chan said with an easy smile. "You're in no danger here." It was an odd thing to say. Of course Woojin wasn't in any danger. It was Chan that should be worried if Woojin suddenly shifts and destroys his shop. 

"Bin, you're on the shop!" Chan called at the top of the stairs.  
There was a whine from somewhere further into the flat. "Make Sungie do it."  
"He's gone out with Fe," Chan said. "Now, Binnie. I have a customer." His stern tone brought a bleary-eyed boy stumbling out of a room. 

The boy frowned up at Woojin through his bangs. "Why's he up here?" he asked Chan  
"Wolfsbane tea," Chan said shortly.  
"Oh." Bin said. " _Oh._ Yeah, I'll go mind the shop." He scampered off down the stairs and Chan rolled his eyes.  
"Changbin!" He called out when the boy was halfway down the stairs.  
"Yeah?" The boy stopped.  
"Trousers?" Chan suggested.  
"Oh, yeah." Changbin hurried back up the stairs and disappeared again.

***

Woojin sat in a tall stool as Chan boiled the water for his tea. His legs would not stop shaking.  
"Nearly there, Woojin," Chan soothed. "Nearly there." He tipped a teaspoon of wolfsbane into a large mug and poured the water on top. The teaspoon tinkled as he stirred gently. "This is a larger dose but I think you need it just now," he set the cup in front of Woojin and took the seat opposite. "Let it sit for a while so it gets stronger."  
"Thank you," Woojin said, curling his hands around the cup to ease the shaking and blowing on the hot liquid.  
"It's no problem," Chan whispered, setting his chin on his palm.

***

"I think I'm ok now," Woojin said when half his cup was drained.  
"I'm not so sure," Chan teased. "What's the last thing you ate?"  
"Probably KFC," Woojin snorted.  
Chan laughed. "The start of this whole mess?"  
Woojin grunted. Put like that, the mention of KFC should put him off food but if anything it made him hungrier.

"Ok, so you've not eaten since last night and your shift drained you. No wonder you were shaking. Leave that just now," Chan gestured to the cup Woojin was absentmindedly sipping from. "Any more on an empty stomach will knock you out. What do you want to eat?" he finished with a bright expectant grin.

"Chan, you don't even know me," Woojin reminded him. "I can go and feed myself."  
"You're dosed up on wolfsbane. I'm not going to let you wander the streets only to pass out in 10 minutes when it kicks in. That would be bad customer service."  
"And whose fault is that?" Woojin replied.  
"The council probably," Chan said. "For locking you up and not feeding you."

"You're really stubborn, you know that Chan." Woojin said but the nurturing nature of the other boy had him more relaxed than he had been in months.  
"It has been mentioned before," Chan smiled and sat up energetically. "So! Ramen? Kimchi Jigae? Stir fry?"  
Woojin moaned at the memory of food he hadn't had in forever. "Honestly, if you gave me plain toast I'd love you forever."  
"Ramen it is then," Chan said, reaching across the table to boop Woojin's nose and Woojin blinked rapidly at the intrusion. "You're falling asleep," Chan told him. "I think I need to reduce your wolfsbane dose for tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woojin meets Chan!! And Changbin but Changbin's not really awake yet - you know how it is at 3pm.
> 
> I think we're going to see a fun clumsy side to Chan from Woojin's pov that Minho didn't see.
> 
> Also I'm not sure how long this will be. Hopefully I won't have to go through the whole month to tie this off


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woojin meets the sunshine twins

"Chan, Chan, Chan, Chan!!" was the only warning Woojin got before two boys bounced into the room.  
"Chan- _hyung,"_ Chan corrected, catching the blonde one around his waist as he barrelled toward him.   
The boy launched into a clearly riveting story in a language Woojin had never heard, making wide gestures and stomping his feet a lot. 

The other boy, with blue hair and bright inquisitive eyes, turned to Woojin. "Are you the newest addition?" he asked. The strap of his overalls slid off his shoulder but the boy seemed not to notice as he scrutinized Woojin.  
"I'm sorry?" Woojin answered. Even after the ramen he was still a little spaced out.  
"Chan-hyung collects strays. I was first and Felix there," he indicated to the blonde boy, "was the most recent."  
Felix was flapping his arms about as explained what seemed to be a car chase to Chan and nearly smacked the vampire in the face with the sleeve of his oversized jumper. Chan trapped Felix's arms to his side but the boy still bounced lightly as he continued talking.

"Ah." It didn't surprise Woojin in the slightest that Chan had a little family of misfits considering how friendly he was to a stranger wandering into his shop. "I don't think I am. I just needed wolfsbane and he invited me up to make me some tea." 

_And then made me ramen and we talked about our favourite songs for an hour,_ Woojin added in his head. Chan was just a hospitable guy and Woojin had nowhere to rush off to now he was confined to the city for a month. Woojin hoped they could be friends while he was here but he wasn't a family guy himself, having always been awkward around younger members his pack.

"Wolfsbane?" The blue-haired boy's eyes lit up. Woojin had forgotten he was there and his exclamation startled him. "Nobody ever buys that! Can I look in your mind? I'm a witch, I mean- I'm Jisung. I am a witch though, a witch called Jisung. I specialise in emotion magic so I'm good with brains." Jisung said at incredible speed, his words tripping over one another on their way out his mouth.

It took Woojin a minute to process what he said. "I'm Woojin, you can call me Hyung." Woojin was sure the boy would have anyway or more likely foregone honorifics entirely. "What will you be doing in my mind? I don't want you seeing my memories." There were some things young mind shouldn't see. Especially when you ate squirrels for breakfast.

Jisung shook his head rapidly. "I won't look at your thoughts, I promise. I just want to see your brain activity and how you're magic is responding to the wolfsbane." He blinked his soulful eyes up at Woojin but Woojin had grown up with wolf puppies and the teenager's trick had no effect on him.

"I'm a werewolf, I don't have magic."  
"Yeah, not this kind," Jisung snapped his fingers and a small blue flame sparked above his fingers. "But you have mystics magic that allows you to shift. I want to know how the wolfsbane is working. Maybe I can make a spell or something that's better."

"Sungie!" Chan called over. "Don't harass Woojin." He smiled apologetically at the werewolf.  
"I just want to look at his brain," Jisung whined.  
"You just met him," Chan admonished.   
"So did you," Jisung shot back. "And _you_ poisoned him!"

Woojin laughed. "He does have a point," he told Chan. "Wolfsbane is a poison."  
"I only gave you a little bit though," Chan argued. "And you literally asked for it."  
"I did," Woojin agreed easily. "And I'll let Jisung look in my brain."  
Jisung whooped. "You're the best, Hyung!"

"Hi, I'm Felix," the blonde boy said to Woojin stiltedly. He had been frowning all through their previous conversation but he smiled brightly as he waved at Woojin.  
Woojin had never heard a name like that before and he turned to Chan for help.  
"Felix," Chan repeated, slightly clearer. "Lixie is a fae. His Korean name is Yongbok but he doesn't like it."  
At this Felix aggressively shook his head, wrinkling up his button nose. Woojin thought he looked adorable.  
"Nice to meet you Felix," Woojin said slowly. "I'm Woojin. I'm a werewolf and Chan is helping me."

"Sungie brain zap you," Felix said happily, wiggling his fingers.  
"I hope not." Woojin felt slight regret that he hadn't checked that Jisung's magic would be the same as the mind wipe he had from the council.  
"No, no. Hurt no." Felix wiggled his fingers again. Woojin guessed he didn't have the Korean words to express the feeling.   
"It tickles a bit," Chan offered and then translated to Felix for his opinion. Felix nodded. "Tickles," he confirmed.

"Somebody come love meeee!" Changbin wailed from the shop.   
"Leos." Jisung rolled his eyes as Felix shot off back down the stairs. Jisung narrowed his eyes at Woojin. "You're not a leo are you?"  
"I don't think so?" Woojin looked to Chan but the vampire was no help. "I was born on the 8th of April."  
"Aries," Jisung hummed. "Interesting. What year?"  
"1797."  
"Urgh, you're old," Jisung said but his disgust was drowned out by Chan's excitement.

" _Mate,_ no way! We're age mates! I'm the 3rd of October '97." Chan reached across the table and squeezed Woojin's hands and smiled so hard his eyes disappeared. Woojin short-circuited for a moment before he squeezed back.  
"Congratulations. You're both old," Jisung deadpanned.

Chan let go of Woojin's hands to point at Jisung. "You won't think it's old when you're two hundred and...and..."   
"Nineteen" Woojin whispered, not wanting to break Chan's flow but clearly the boy was struggling.  
"Thanks."  
"No problem."  
"-when you're 219," Chan continued as if nothing had happened.  
"I'm not going to live until I'm 219," Jisung said confidently. "I'm going to die young in an explosion of my own making and Felix is going to play the bass kazoo at my funeral."

"There's a bass kazoo?" Chan asked.  
" _That's_ what you focused on in that sentence?" Woojin asked, greatly concerned.  
Chan shrugged. "Jisung does make a lot of explosions."  
Woojin turned to Jisung. "I retract my previous statement. You're not going near my head with your brain zappers." He wiggled his fingers for good measure.  
Jisung grinned. "Fair enough."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe Woojin and Chan are old. I wanted them to still be 97 and they had to be older then Minho who I made like 130 or something sooo. 
> 
> Also I know nothing about zodiacs I just thought it was funny


	4. Chapter 4

"..., Woojin?" Chan asked the slightly older man. Woojin missed the question. He was really struggling to concentrate now the excitement of the boys' arrive had worn off. Jisung and Chan were talking but Woojin had stopped listening a while ago.

"Huh?" He replied eloquently.  
Chan smiled softly at him. "The wolfsbane's still got you then? I asked if you were staying for dinner."  
"No, I need to go find a hotel for tonight," Woojin sighed and pushed the hair off his forehead. He had planned to find new clothes, food and a hotel by now. Buying wolfsbane was only supposed to take a minute or two.

"You can sleep here," Chan offered. "As Jisung pointed out, I have poisoned you so I really can't just let you wander the streets to collapse somewhere."  
"Ok," Woojin mumbled. He was in no mood to argue out of politeness. If Chan was willing to let him sleep on his floor, Woojin would sleep in his floor.  
"Do you wanna sleep now?" Jisung asked, poking Woojin's arm as his eyes glazed over again.  
"That would be, yeah," Woojin slurred, dropping his head to nestle in his arms on the table. 

Chan's POV

"Did he really just pass out?" Jisung asked, poking Woojin again. "How much wolfsbane did you give him?"  
"Not much," Chan said, batting Jisung's hands away from the sleeping man. "I think he's been living rough for a while. It's probably just all caught up with him."

"So are you adopting him then?" Jisung asked with quiet curiosity. The curiosity was normal, the quiet- not so much. "He's not a kid like the rest of us, Hyung. He might not want to stay."  
"I know," Chan sighed. He always got so attached. Changbin liked to joke that Chan had been bitten by a mother and was left with an eternal longing for children instead of blood.

"I'm going to put Woojin in my bed," Chan decided. "He can't sleep here- he'll fall."  
"Shouldn't you put him on the couch?" Jisung suggested. "You need to sleep in your bed."  
"I won't sleep anyway," Chan argued. "And you lot will wake him up if he's in the living room." Chan carefully put Woojin's arms over his shoulders and rested his heavy head against his chest. Ever so gently he slipped his hands under Woojin's thighs and lifted the older man up. Woojin mumbled and nuzzled into Chan's neck but didn't wake.

"I'm pretty sure this counting as kidnapping, Hyung," Jisung mused as he watched Chan waddle out the room with Woojin cradled to his chest. "You drug him, then you take him to a secure private location. I bet he doesn't even have a phone!"  
Chan ignored him and focused on not bashing Woojin off the walls.

Chan's bed was never made as he normally just kicked the covers off every morning as he dragged himself upright for another day. He was glad of that now as he was able to lay Woojin down and tuck him in without a problem. He slipped Woojin's shoes off too but there was no way he could get Woojin's jacket off his shoulders without jostling him awake.

Chan shifted from foot to foot in quiet panic as he tried to decide whether or not he should leave Woojin a note. What would he even say? _Hi, you're in my bed. Love, Chan._ Should he draw a map of the flat? Woojin wouldn't even know where his bedroom was. What if he needed to go to the bathroom or get a drink from the kitchen? What if he just wanted to leave? Chan should draw a map.

Chan snuck out of the room and went back to the kitchen to find Hyunjin and Jeongin were back from school and were raiding the cupboards for food.  
"Innie! I need your colouring pencils."  
"Why?" Jeongin asked suspiciously, a handful of popcorn halfway to his mouth.  
"I need to draw a map of the flat."

Jeongin didn't repeat his question with his mouth full of popcorn but his eyebrows did the talking.  
"Hyung drugged a customer and now he's asleep in Hyung's bed," Jisung told the younger boy smuggly.  
“Han Jisung it’s not like that,” Chan tried to be authoritative but he was embarrassed about the whole situation now his darling Jeongin was looking at him with disapproval. His ears were definitely reddening if Hyunjin’s cackle was anything to go by.

“It was wolfsbane, not roofies,” Chan clarified, pulling his curls forward to hide his ears.  
“Oooh, Dad’s being cool. He knows drug street names,” Jisung laughed.  
“Jisung,” Chan scolded lightly, knowing it would have no effect. It never did with Jisung.  
My street name is J-One,” Jisung added. Chan didn’t want to know what he had a street name for.

“Look,” Chan said, trying to get back on track. He was doing a terrible job of setting a good example for Jeongin. “Woojin has been living rough for a long time. He needs help to stay in human form and as far as I know he has nowhere to stay. I’m just helping him like I helped all of you.”  
That put a sudden cold stop to the jokes. Jeongin and Jisung had been left with Chan by their parents in mutual agreement that it was better for the boys but Hyunjin had been living in the sewers until Chan took him in and they all remembered that ordeal well. 

Hyunjin bit his lip and crossed his legs, running one foot up the other calf in a nervous habit.  
“Do you need to sit down, Jinnie,” Chan asked, reluctantly bringing attention to it.  
“I’m fi-” Hyunjin started but before he could finish his body dropped 2 feet with the unmistakable sound of ripping fabric. “Goddamn it, they were my last clean pair.” Hyunjin said shakily, trying his best to act indifferent with the shredded remains of his school trousers hanging off his waist. Eight tentacles replaced his legs, darkening to match the black tiles of the kitchen floor. Hyunjin ripped off his socks and threw them at the wall, blinking away tears of frustration.

Jeongin leant down without a word and let Hyunjin wrap around his waist so the Mer boy was at eye level with everyone again. Hyunjin pouted as he rested his chin on Jeongin’s shoulder. Jeongin fed him some of his popcorn.  
“Sorry for making you nervous,” Chan said guiltily. “I’ll buy you new trousers.”  
Hyunjin shrugged and stole more popcorn, trapping Jeongin’s arms to his sides with his tentacles. “It’s fine, I’m at home.” He chewed thoughtfully and tried to subtly brush away his tears. “Maybe I should take wolfsbane too.”  
“It’s not good to suppress you shifts, Jinnie,” Chan refrained from hugging the boy, knowing it would only make the tears fall faster and Hyunjin was desperate to appear unaffected. “We can work on your control instead,” Chan suggested.  
Hyunjin nodded but didn’t meet Chan’s eyes.

“Why does Woojin...-hyung? have to suppress then if it’s not good for you,” Jeongin asked, quick to change the topic.   
_Damn, why do I have such smart kids,_ Chan thought.  
“He is your hyung- same age as me. And I can’t tell you that Innie, it’s not my story to tell. Don’t ask Woojin about it either. It’s not polite.”  
Jeongin frowned. Chan knew he would be desperate to ask an older shifter everything he could but that would have to wait. In the silence Hyunjin slipped off of Jeongin’s waist onto two unsteady legs again and wobbled out of the room, his trousers fluttering around him.   
“I’ll go make sure he’s ok,” Jeongin said and followed him.

“I’ll make a map of the flat,” Jisung offered and started digging through Jeongin’s school bag. “Main exits, bathroom and kitchen?”  
“Thanks, Sungie,” Chan pressed a kiss into the witch’s hair and slumped down onto one of the stools. “You’re so good with newbies now.”  
“Well, you keep adopting people. I’ve had a lot of practice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not to happy with this chapter. I don't know. I just feel like it didn't flow well or the mood was too jumpy or something. 
> 
> ANYway, a little POV shift I hadn't planned for but I think it was important to see where the other's are with this change before I switch back to clueless Woojin. He's definitely less hesitant than Minho but will everyone accept him.
> 
> Also, I love writing surprise tentacles


	5. Chapter 5

Woojin woke slowly, uncurling from around the pillow he had been clutching to his chest and stretching until his toes brushed against wooden foot-board. The sheets smelled like Chan. That slightly flat, dead smell of a vampire and the peach of his shampoo. Woojin hadn't tasted peaches in so long and now he'd pinned down the scent he was craving them. It was January however and peaches weren't in season so Woojin decided to stop torturing himself and locate the kitchen for an alternative.

***

A boy with round glasses and impossibly fluffy hair was sat at the kitchen counter, shoveling cereal into his mouth.  
"Woojin-ssi?" The boy asked, not covering his mouth and giving Woojin the full view of his half-chewed breakfast.  
"Yes," Woojin replied. He did a quick count in his head. Changbin, Jisung, Felix and now this boy. That was at least four adoptees but from the way Jisung had spoken the previous day Woojin wouldn't be surprised if there were more. 

"I'm Seungmin," the boy said. His Korean was flawless but something about his news broadcaster accent told Woojin he was foreign. Something about his smell too.  
"You can eat whatever you can find for breakfast." Seungmin continued eating his cereal like it was running away from him.

"Do you think I can make pancakes?" Woojin asked. He wanted to repay Chan for his hospitality and something told him the vampire wouldn't accept money. Mostly the fact that Chan had yet to ask for payment for the wolfsbane he was supposed to be selling Woojin.

"Do _you_ think you can make pancakes?" Seungmin replied. "We probably have the ingredients and if you share you can definitely stay again." He stood and rummaged through the cupboards to bring out flour, sugar, baking powder and eggs. "What else is in pancakes?"  
"I need butter if you have it and milk."

"How many people am I cooking for?" Woojin asked as Seungmin set a large mixing bowl in front of him with a grin.  
"Seven. Well eight with you now, but Channie-hyung eats enough for like 5 people so just make as much as you can." Seungmin sat on the countertop and watched with anticipation as Woojin began to mix the ingredients.

"So, what have you heard about me?" Woojin asked to stop Seungmin staring calculatingly at him.  
"Werewolf, on wolfsbane, needs somewhere to stay," Seungmin summarized. "I'm fae, here for school, also needed somewhere to stay- so we're even."  
That explained the accent. "From a good family?" Woojin asked casually as he spooned the first pancake into the pan. The fae weren't known to stay long when they crossed the skin and very few spoke enough of a human language to live in a city.  
Seungmin snorted at his question. "Theoretically. My human education is 'an investment'." He stuck his finger in the batter and licked it before Woojin could bat him away. "I prefer living here anyway."

"I prefer living in the woods," Woojin said, "but I don't have much choice this month. How's life in the city?"  
"Most people will completely ignore you," Seungmin told him. "Even if you're doing something really weird. Hyunjin once lost his legs on the underground and nobody even noticed."  
Woojin knew Seungmin was leaving details out on purpose from the glint in his eye but Woojin didn't bite the bait and just served him the first pancake. 

Seungmin wasn't kidding when he said Chan ate a lot. The vampire appeared by the time the second pancake was ready and inhaled every pancake the second Woojin placed it on his plate with a muffled thanks. 

"Don't you drink blood?" Woojin asked as the sixth pancake disappeared. He'd need to make another batch for the other boys and possibly a third just for Chan.  
Chan wrinkled his nose. "Don't like it."  
"You know that's why you're probably so hungry," Woojin said quietly as he served Seungmin again. The young boy cackled as he received it and danced with his food in front of two boys that has just arrived.  
"Don't like it," Chan repeated and diverted the conversation. "Do you need wolfsbane?" he asked getting mugs out of the cupboard.

Woojin couldn't tell you why he did it, especially with how much effort it was taking to stay human. The words were out of his mouth before he'd really considered the repercussions, a challenge prickling the warm atmosphere of the lazy morning.  
"I'll take wolfsbane when you take blood."

Three heads whipped around as the kitchen suddenly went quiet.  
"I don't have blood here," Chan said evenly, ignoring the stares. "And you shouldn't just pull straight off wolfsbane and go back to it. You'll get withdrawal."  
"You should find some blood quickly then."

"I like him," one of the new boys said.  
"Of course you'd like him for that, Innie," Chan sighed, slumping against the counter. "Woojin this is Jeongin and Hyunjin. Innie, Jinnie, this is Woojin."  
"Provider of Pancakes," Hyunjin titled him grandly, bowing with a plate held aloft. Woojin dutifully flipped a pancake onto the plate.  
"An offering!" Hyunjin gasped. "I accept, you may reside here as long as you wish."  
"Why thank you, merciful lord." Woojin played along.  
Hyunjin giggled and drowned the pancake in chocolate syrup.

"Can I have another one," Chan asked once the three boys had been sated.  
"I don't know. Have you conjured some blood?" Woojin replied cheekily. He was feeling shaky again, finding it was getting harder and harder to flip the pancakes but he was determined to help Chan. He just had to get Chan to cave before he did. The vampire clearly did a lot for the boys in his care but it didn't look like there was anyone to look after him.

Chan looked down at the food and Woojin saw his eyes catch as the spatula slipped in his grasp.  
"If I promise to get blood later will you take the wolfsbane?" Chan said, taking over the cooking with a nudge to Woojin's hip.  
"You promise?"  
"I promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> would you look at that. woochan slowly smothering all other plot lines. this may just turn into woochan with a side of magical children chaos and im not mad about it


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Good evening, I'll be your fic provider tonight. Can I interest you in today's special- Woochan with a side of OT9?  
> Y'all: I didn't know you did that here. I would love the Woochan, thank you.
> 
> Thank you for your order, the next chapter will be heavy on the Woochan.

Seungmin took over the cooking as Chan set about making the tea and a large pot of coffee. Changbin and Jisung stumbled in as it finished brewing, led by Felix who was looking significantly more awake. Chan deposited a mug of coffee in front of each of them, Jisung's heavily sweetened with sugar. 

Felix got the first pancake through the benefit of having his eyes open. Jisung fell back asleep against Hyunjin's shoulder and Changbin slurped at his coffee without lifting it off the counter, nearly sticking his nose in it.

"Not morning people?" Woojin asked as Chan handed him his tea. They were leaning by the sink since all the seats were taken.  
"No. I'm not either but I've not been asleep."  
Woojin blinked slowly at Chan, making sure the other man could see him judging him.  
"Is this because you put me in your bed? I would have slept fine on the table, or the floor. Pretty much any horizontal surface."

Chan's ears reddened. "No! I just don't really sleep? Well, I do, just not when I want." He frowned, unhappy with his explanation. "I have insomnia."  
"I bet that goes really well with the not drinking," Woojin said not unkindly as he sipped his tea. It was bitter but not as much as yesterday so Chan must have made it weaker.  
"It's fine," Chan said but his tone disagreed. 

Seungmin, Hyunjin and Jeongin had rushed out the door not long after everyone arrived in the kitchen. Woojin didn't understand why only half the boys went to school, an expensive school too by the looks of their uniform. Felix not going he could understand. It would be hard to explain what language he spoke to the humans but Jisung seemed to be the same age and yet worked in a shop. One of many oddities in this household.

Woojin pulled the young boy aside as everyone started getting ready for the day.  
"The wolfsbane," he explained as Jisung's eyes widened in fear and he took an unsteady step back . Woojin really needed to practice using words instead of actions now. "How much do I owe you guys for a month's supply?"

"Oh!" Jisung relaxed against the wall. "Honestly, that stuff is so old I'm impressed it still works. I have no idea how much we got it for."  
Woojin didn't budge.  
"I'll need to order more though so I can give you a price when we get the new stuff in? Do you really think you need it for a month? It's a poison, right? Can't you just shift back again if you slip like Hyunjin does? I could mind wipe any human that sees, I'm good at that ." 

Jisung asked a lot of questions but it didn't seem like he really wanted answers for them. It was more like his consciousness was bouncing off thoughts like a pinball machine, moving too quickly for Woojin to follow any logical pattern to it.   
"I can't shift," Woojin said firmly. He hoped Jisung wouldn't question that further.

"Well you _can_ ," Jisung said pedantically. "Otherwise you wouldn't need wolfsbane. But you _won't._ Wherever, that's fine," Jisung waved away that line of questioning with a lazy hand. He yawned. "I don't know how much it will be."

Woojin was determined to find some sort of payment. The shop seemed to be the only source of income for seven people- they couldn’t afford to just be giving stuff away. Woojin stayed firmly in front of Jisung and considered his trump card. A little wouldn’t hurt.

Woojin opened his eyes slightly wider and blinked balefully. Genuine puppy dog eyes. It was a skill that become useless against his pack as soon as he hit puberty but it had convinced several humans to give him work and shelter over the years.

Jisung frowned, contemplating something. Maybe his pinball was stuck.  
"You said Channie-hyung needs to drink blood?" he questioned after a moment.  
"All vampires need it. It has something in it they can't get by eating anything else. Other food leaves them still hungry."  
"Channie-hyung is an idiot."  
"Seems like it," Woojin agreed easily. It was best not to worry the kids with how unhealthy Chan's current habits were.

"If you get Chan to start drinking I'll give you the wolfsbane for free," Jisung bargained.  
"What makes you think I can do that?" Woojin shot back. That was really not the answer he was looking for. He was trying to pay them goddamnit.  
Jisung's reply was cut off by Chan poking his head round the corner.  
"Ah, there you are, Woojin! Do you want to borrow some clothes from me? My shoulders are pretty broad so they should fit."

Jisung smirked at Woojin as Chan lead the older man away. _What did he know that Woojin didn't?_

***

Woojin was soon showered and dressed in all black. The smell of Chan clung to him and it was mildly distracting as he tried to interpret Felix's enthusiastic mimes. 

"He wants you to throw him in the back garden," Changbin translated briefly, glancing up from his paperwork. He was minding the shop again as Chan got ready to go out with Woojin and Felix had a handwritten exercise book he was ignoring.  
"Do not throw him," Changbin added as he crossed out a line.

"Why do you want to be thrown?" Woojin asked. He liked to think that nothing could surprise him anymore but these kids were challenging that thought.  
"Spin!" Felix said, bouncing around in a circle.  
"No, Lixie. Not in the daytime." Changbin said gently, steadying Felix and keeping him away from table with one hand as he continued working.   
"No wings, Binnie-hyung," Felix bargained, trying his best to get Changbin's attention on his puppy eyes. "Just spin."  
"Oh? And how are you going to land without your wings, Lixie?" Changbin hummed and pulled Felix into his side but didn't look up from his work.

Changbin ran his hand up Felix's back, digging his fingers into the material of Felix's t-shirt in a way that would be painful. Painful unless you had wings Woojin considered as Felix arched into Changbin's touch with a satisfied smile. _Literal wings. Ok._

"Ready to go?" Chan asked brightly, appearing from the back room.   
Woojin spared one final look to the boys and then nodded.  
"Excellent," Chan grinned and looped their arms together. "We'll be back later!" he called over his shoulder as he marched them out the door.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who ordered the woochan?

“It’s pretty weird, right?” Woojin half-whispered to Chan as they jogged up the steps of a gleaming marble-clad building. “Reporting to my bank to meet my release conditions.”  
“It’s a little weird,” Chan admitted. “But most banks won’t print you a new passport and offer showering facilities in the same transaction either. 

They stepped into a large empty foyer and the conversation died. Woojin stepped up to the uninterested receptionist with his friendliest smile.  
“Hi. I’m here to, uh,” How to phrase it like he wasn’t a potential murder? “I’m here to check in. I have to do it every day.”  
The receptionist gave him a knowing nod and pointed left a row of ATM-like machines in the wall. “Tag, pin, fingerprint” She said as if using whole sentences would be a waste of her time. 

Woojin couldn’t see anything her time could be better spent doing in an empty lobby on a monday morning but he thanked her and tugged Chan by the elbow over to the machine with him.  
"Is this how you normally get money out?" Chan asked excitedly as Woojin pulled his tag over his head and confidently shoved the metal sheet into a slot.  
Woojin shrugged. "I can use my tag here instead of a card. Doesn't work at normal ATMs obviously but it's helpful when I'm travelling and shifting short-term."

Woojin punched in his pin with only a half-hearted attempt to hide it from Chan. Chan was very nobley fascinated by the wall for those ten seconds anyway.

He clicked on the _suspended sentence_ button next to _balance only_ that he'd never noticed before. It prompted him to scan his thumb.

"I've never had to do fingerprint ID," Woojin muttered, stepping back to scan the machine for somewhere to put his thumb.  
"That's because you're a criminal now Woojin," Chan teased. He pointed to a small black square next to the pin pad and it lit up red as Woojin pressed his thumb to it.

The machine gave a positive beep and went back to the home screen.  
"Done?" Chan asked it.  
"I guess so," Woojin glanced back at the receptionist in case he'd done something wrong but she wasn't even looking in their direct. "Should we just… go?" He asked hesitantly, turning to Chan but Chan wasn't there.

Woojin whipped back around to find Chan chatting happily with the receptionist.  
"Chan," Woojin groaned and walked over to drag his new friend away.  
Chan went willingly, shooting a bright smile to the receptionist who looked slightly startled as she ducked her head in a small bow.

"She said that's fine and you can use the machines outside if they're shut," Chan told him, pointing out the ATMs imbedded in the wall.  
"You're going to make friends with a rock next," Woojin muttered as they set off down the street.  
"What?" Chan linked their arms together and steered Woojin down a bustling alley full of food vendors.  
"I said you're going to make friends with a rock next!"  
"I like making friends."  
"I know, Channie," Woojin said wryly. The nickname rolled off his tongue before he could stop it and Chan beamed at him before tugging him behind a fruit stall.

The stallholder did a double take. "Chris? I thought you'd left the country."  
"Ah, no Ivan." Chan mumbled nervously, half hiding behind Woojin. "I just stopped, I don't-"  
"You went vegetarian," Ivan said disapprovingly. He was an older man with wirey silver hair though Woojin suspected he was much older than his looks betrayed. 

Ivan turned to Woojin. "You're not a vegetarian, are you boy? Nice strong boy like yourself."  
"No sir," Woojin stuttered. "I, uh, like venison."  
Ivan laughed a croaking laugh and slapped Woojin strongly on the arm. "Venison! Right you are, boy. Right you are."

He turned back to Chan and scrutinised him closely. "You've not been looking after yourself, Chris. Make sure you're getting your five a day." He reached under the stall and pulled some cartons out of a coolbox, shoving them in a plastic bag. "Some nice strawberries will see you right." He folded the bag into Chan's hand, steadfastly ignoring Chan's protests that it was too much.

"Are you wanting anything, boy?" Ivan asked Woojin, his strong grip still stopping Chan from removing any of the cartons. "Strawberries? An apple? The mangoes are very good this time of year."  
It was January and Woojin had no idea what that was code for. "No thank you sir," Woojin said politely.

"Are you sure now? You brought Chris back to me. I'll tell you what, I've got this new smoothie I think you should try," Ivan said before Woojin could protest and turned to pull a cup out of some ice on the other side of the stall. "Free of charge," Ivan grinned, the points of his canines showing for a moment. "Don't worry it's nothing like the smoothies I gave Chris."

Woojin gave his "smoothie" a sniff as Chan thanked Ivan and hassled him into accepting payment before they ended up with anything else. The smoothie smelled of bananas but there was something strange there too he couldn't quite pin.

Chan came up beside him and laughed at Woojin's expression. "Don't worry, Ivan won't poison you." He stole the smoothie as they walked through the market and took a sip. "Ah! Peanut butter.”  
Woojin paused as Chan handed it back and gave it one more sniff before bringing it to his lips. It was good. He took another big gulp and hurried to catch up to Chan as he disappeared through the crowds.

***  
Chan turned to Woojin suddenly when they were stopped at a traffic light to cross the road. "You need clothes!" he exclaimed.  
Woojin had no idea what triggered that different thought considering they had been having a friendly argument about anime.  
"Yes, I can't keep stealing yours," Woojin agreed though Chan's clothes were soft and comforting. Woojin wouldn't mind if he had to continue wearing Chan's clothes even if they were a boring monochrome black.

"You're not stealing if they were offered willingly," Chan smiled and tugged him away from the crowd of people waiting at the lights.  
Woojin stumbled slightly and threw his empty cup in a bin before gripping Chan's hand tighter and letting himself be led into the heart of the city.  
"Come on!" Chan said, slowing to let Woojin catch up. "I know this city inside out."


	8. Chapter 8

When they made it back to the shop in the late afternoon they could hear the screams from down the street.  
“Is this a normal occurrence?” Woojin asked.  
“I would like to say no,” Chan sighed and broke into a light jog down the street. Woojin caught himself smiling as he followed the other man into chaos.

The screaming was remarkably harmonic until Felix noticed Chan looking disappointed in the doorway and fell from the ladder. His limbs flailed helplessly as black wings failed to open under his t-shirt and Chan shot forward at an inhuman speed to catch him.  
“Thanks, Hyung,” Felix stuttered, shaking his shoulders to refold his wings.  
“No problem,” Chan ruffled his hair to hide his fear. “Just don’t make a habit of it, yeah?” he added lightly.

“Now. Would someone explain why I could hear you lot screaming from down the street?” Chan said sternly, hands on his hips. Woojin left Chan’s blood bags and his shopping at the door and moved to stand beside Chan for a better view of the response. He just knew it was going to be good.  
“We were doing inventory!” Jisung protested. “Like you said!”  
“Since when has inventory needed screaming?”  
“Since Jisung found a protection spell online,” Changbin said. “It was going really well.”

Chan turned his face into Woojin’s shoulder and took a deep breath. Woojin grinned at the boys behind his back. Felix grinned back, hair in disarray. Jisung silently offered him what might have been licorice from ingredients scattered on the table. Woojin declined, just to be safe.

“Ok, from the top.” Chan said, getting everyone to sit around the table. “What is this protection spell for?”  
“Negative thoughts.”  
“And where did you find it?”  
“Online.” Jisung spun a laptop around to face Chan. It whirred loudly in protest. “It’s a legit website- I had to use my ID and everything.”

Chan squinted at the screen. “Jisungie, this is in Thai.”  
“Yeah, but I translated it!” Jisung said enthusiastically.  
“‘Cheer at 100 decibels?’” Woojin read skeptically over Chan’s shoulder. “That’s kind of odd.”  
“Yeah, the ‘on a cup of tea’ bit is worse,” Chan agreed. “Changbinnie, why didn’t you stop him?”

“It seemed fine!” Changbin protested, holding up his hands. “Sungie’s done way weirder spells before and they’ve worked.”  
“Not good?” Felix asked, having only followed some of the exchange.  
“Bad translation,” Woojin smiled at him. “No screaming.” He held a finger to his lips and Felix nodded, copying the gesture.

Jisung was on the verge of a tantrum but Chan was quick to solve the problem.   
“I’ll send it to Bambam. Ok, Sungie? Then we can do the real spell together.”  
“What if it was right in the first place and you’ve just ruined my spell,” Jisung huffed.  
“Then I will apologize,” Chan said diplomatically.  
Jisung’s glare deepened.  
“And buy you cheesecake,” Chan added.

***

Jisung wouldn’t stop bothering Chan until he’d messaged Bambam a screenshot of the spell. Woojin was 95% convinced it was only because cheesecake was on the line.

Chan had added the Google translation and Bambam called Chan ten minutes later and just laughed down the phone for a good few minutes. Jisung's indignation at that response only made Bambam laugh harder.   
_“Ohh, that’s the best laugh I’ve had in centuries,”_ Bambam said once his laughing fit died down, projected on speakerphone.  
“You’re not that old Bam,” Chan reminded him. “Care to share the correct spell with us before Sungie blows up the shop?? Again.”  
 _“Ok. First thing- the tea should be at 100 degrees, not your screaming. Second thing- you shouldn’t even be screaming in the first place…”_

Chan left his phone with the kids as Bambam continued explaining and gestured to Woojin that they should bring the bags upstairs.  
Woojin set a carton of blood in front of Chan as they unpacked the bags.  
Chan looked down at it apprehensively.   
“You promised, Chan.”  
“I know! I just-” Chan sounded so young in that moment, staring down an inconspicuous carton like it was the barrel of a gun.  
Woojin took it upon himself to find a glass and pour healthy measure. The liquid was unpleasantly gloopy.  
“That much?” Chan asked quietly.   
“You need it, Channie,” Woojin told him gently.

Chan gingerly picked up the glass and swirled the liquid with a frown on his face. “I’ll need to microwave it.” He decided, shoving the glass into the sleek box and slamming the door. He punched random buttons until the machine started and faced away, letting out a shuddering breath.  
“It’s not that bad,” Woojin said encouragingly. While he hadn’t gone out of his way to ever drink blood he didn’t have the privilege of filleting every deer he caught.  
“I know," Chan said. "I’ve done this before."  
“Why did you stop?”

The microwave beeped and Chan turned to retrieve his now warm blood. The smell had been recognisable before but now it was overpowering. Woojin vowed to himself to stay human a little longer this time as the scent made his mouth watered, expecting meat. He really needed more vegetables in his diet.

“My clan left.” Chan said, resting the glass on the table in front of him. “I never liked the taste all too much but with them gone… I hated the reminder. That I would live forever. Alone.” He tipped back the glass before Woojin could say anything and downed the blood in one breath.

Chan held his gaze as he slammed the glass back down on the table, breathing heavy with red-stained lips. Woojin had never felt so alive than that moment, a spark lit in him by the unmasked emotions in Chan’s face.  
“You’re not alone now, Chan,” Woojin siad, his voice hoarse. “You have a family of adoring boys that will live as long as you will. They might grow up but they won’t leave you behind.”

Chan laughed nervously and wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand. “Still tasted gross though,” he joked.  
Woojin’s eyes were drawn down to Chan’s lips. There was still a smear of blood down his chin. “I don’t mind the taste too much.”  
Chan’s eyes turned dangerously mischievous. “Want to share?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> urgh the end of that was so cliched. Thats not what this story is supposed to be like


	9. Chapter 9

Woojin's breath caught in his throat. He hadn't expected Chan to flirt back quite so blatantly. Before he could choke out a less desperate version of _"luna shining, yes please"_ there was a thunder of footsteps on the stairs. Chan pouted at that and fruitfully tried to hide his empty glass. 

"You drank blood," Jisung stated from the doorway.   
Chan looked panickedly to Woojin who tapped his chin. Chan hastily scrubbed the stain away. "Yeah," he admitted reluctantly, setting the glass back on the table.  
"That's great Hyung!" Jisung beamed. "How do you feel?"  
"Uh, kinda high, I mean hyper," Chan scratched the back of his head, his ears turning red.

"If you're high and Woojin-hyung is poisoned does that mean I'm in charge?" Jisung asked cheekily, posing in the doorway backlit by the light above the stairs.  
"Not a chance," Chan rebutted. "I'd put Felix in charge before you."  
"I'm not poisoned," Woojin added. "I took the wolfsbane hours ago."  
Jisung pouted for show. "This is bullying." 

He threw Chan's phone back to him and the vampire caught it, moving faster than Woojin could see. "Bambam-hyung said we need jasmine tea but we couldn't find the jar." Jisung said, looking expectantly to Chan.  
"You know I don't actually have psychic powers, right?" Chan said teasingly as they followed Jisung back downstairs. "You have to put the ingredients back where you found them for me to be able to find them again."

***

"Right, it should be that shelf there," Chan pointed to a neatly stocked wooden bookshelf adorned in hanging crystals twirling gently. Felix leaped from the central table in the direction he pointed, landing lithely with his hands tightly gripping the middle shelf.

"Top self?" Felix asked.   
"Yes, top shelf," Chan confirmed.  
"Lix, watch the-! Gems." Changbin warned belatedly, sighing as some of the strings were knocked to the ground by the young fae boy. "Good thing they're made of rock," he grumbled, gathering then up and dusting them off.

"No J bottles, Hyung," Felix called down. "S bottles and T bottles and Ch bottles and-"  
"That's alright, Felix," Chan interrupted him. "You can come down now. I'll have a look around for it."

Chan disappeared from Woojin's side in an instant and before Woojin could follow the tinkling of jars to his new location he was across the room opening a drawer and then across again, spinning a display case. Every time Woojin turned to the next sound Chan was already gone.

"I'd say the blood is working," Jisung remarked, stepping closer to the table as Chan went past in a gust of wind.  
"He drank blood?" Changbin asked, looking worriedly at the crystals hanging by the door as they swung precariously.  
"Not very much," Woojin said, tucking Felix into his side to allow a clearer path around the table. "I wouldn't have thought at his age it would make so much of a difference."

They stood huddled as the shop rattled and shook around them with Chan all but turning the place inside out.  
"I can't find it," Chan said eventually, skidding to a halt in front of them. Changbin glared at him and handed over fallen crystals. They weren't the only ones. Almost every vertical surface hand been hung with them: strung like beads, twisted on copper wire, mounted in jewellery, and all in a fantastic array of sizes and colours. Woojin wondered if their location was important for magical reasons or solely to catch the light and the customers eye.

"It's a white flower, right? About this big?" Woojin held his thumb and forefinger a few inches apart."  
Chan nodded.  
"That corner," Woojin pointed. Chan's movement had stirred a bouquet of smells hidden before and the unique scent caught his attention. Woojin let Felix go and walked over to the narrow shelf tucked beside the window. The smell got stronger with a bit of digging he discovered a tin full of the dried flowers.  
“Awesome! I never have to look for stuff ever again,” Jisung grinned at Woojin tossed the tin to him.

“That is not the take-away here,” Chan sighed. “We have a system. If you used it we wouldn’t need to bother Woojin.”  
“It’s not a bother,” Woojin smiled at Jisung who was excitedly tipping blossoms into a mug he had set in the middle of the table.  
“Don’t encourage him, Jinnie,” Chan said and the nickname made something bubble in Woojin’s chest. “Jisungie, if you could do this _later_ once the shop is closed,” Chan added, looking pointedly over Jisung’s shoulder where a young girl was nervously standing by the door. 

Woojin noticed a sour tint bleeding into Chan’s scent as the girl timidly stepped forward to ask about luck charms. She was human and Woojin had no idea how one would go about finding out if she meant the magical kind or the horseshoe, four-leaf clover stuff that had leaked into human culture. Changbin clearly had it covered though as he confidently lead her over to a display case, asking questions in a friendly way that had the girl relaxing in seconds.

Chan, however, was far from relaxed.  
“Channie?” Woojin asked loudly as Chan’s eyes tracked the girl across the room. Chan ignored him until Woojin stepped into his line of sight. “ _Channie,_ let’s go upstairs. Yeah?”  
Chan blinked as his eyes finally focused on the werewolf and let Woojin turn him back towards the stairs. Jisung followed them through to the back room where their conversation wouldn’t be overheard, the laptop hanging loosely from one hand while Felix darted around the shop to tidy the mess.

“I’m fine, Woojin,” Chan said once they were out of the room. He shook his head and shrugged Woojin’s arm off. “I’ve just not been so aware of blood in a long time so it caught me off guard.”  
“Ohh! Are your fangs out?” Jisung asked, slinging the laptop onto a desk and pulling back Chan’s lips. “Ow.”  
“Jisung that was really dumb,” Woojin said, voiced strained as he held Chan’s wrists tightly behind his back to prevent him lunging towards Jisung. Not even a second later and Chan was relaxed again, leaning back against Woojin and breathing heavily through his mouth.

Jisung’s eyes were wide and he stuck his bleeding thumb in his mouth. “Sorry, Hyung,” he mumbled.  
“It’s fine Sungie,” Chan tilted his head back and closed his eyes. “You’d better go put a plaster on that. My venom will stop it clotting for a while.”  
Jisung nodded and dashed back into the shopfront.  
Seeing that Chan was back in control, Woojin released his wrists and pulled the vampire into a hug. “I’m sorry I forced you to drink, Channie,” he whispered into his hair. The sour smell from before was getting stronger and despite his senses being dulled in his human form Woojin could tell it was fear. 

Chan turned in his arms and buried his face on Woojin’s neck only to arch back immediately. “Fucking hell, it’s everywhere,” Chan groaned. He paced back and forth in the small back room and Woojin watched, concerned that getting closer would make things worse.  
“I will not bite my children. I will not bite my children. I will not bite my children,” Chan was chanting to himself.  
“Channie, how can I help?” Woojin asked when this didn’t let up.  
“I’m fine! It’s fine!” Chan continued pacing.  
“I can look after the kids if you want to go out of town for a bit?” Woojin suggested.  
“No, I can’t leave them. I can do this, I’ve done this before. I can do this,” Chan was convincing himself more than Woojin who could still smell how scared he was.

Woojin stepped into Chan’s path with open arms and the vampire walked to him with no hesitation.   
“You smell like blood,” Chan grumbled, hooking his arms around Woojin’s waist.  
“That is a side effect of being alive,” Woojin teased. Chan bit into the collar of Woojin’s demin jacket with a growl. It was a brand new jacket and actually fit him but Woojin didn’t mind as long as it was the jacket and not his neck feeling the force of Chan’s fangs.  
“Blood is gross,” Chan’s scent was slowly returning to normal as he calmed down, gnawing on Woojin’s collar and harmlessly injecting venom into the fabric. Where it touched Woojin’s neck he could feel the numbing effect taking place and he tilted Chan’s chin up in case Chan did end up biting him without him noticing.

“If it’s so gross then we’ve got nothing to worry about with you biting someone.” Woojin held Chan’s steady gaze.   
Chan pulled back his lip to bare his fangs inches from Woojin’s skin. “I wouldn’t be so sure.”  
“Retract them, Channie. I know you can.” Woojin tapped Chan’s chin with his thumb. “I won’t ask you to kiss me if you’ve got your fangs out.”  
Chan choked and his scent spiked with bright surprise as he pulled back. Woojin was afraid he had read the situation wrong as Chan stepped back and brought his hands to his mouth but a few tense seconds later Chan was back with his arms around Woojin’s neck and the biggest fang-free smile.

“Go on” Chan said eagerly, pulling Woojin close.  
“Are you sure you won’t bite me?” Woojin asked, leaning closer and touching their noses together. At this point, that wouldn’t deter him anyway.  
“Oh, I’ll bite you,” Chan whispered sultrily into Woojin’s mouth. “And you’ll like it.”  
Woojin was laughing as their lips met and they stumbled backwards to find a wall for support.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah that got hot
> 
> I was so tempted to have Jisung interrupt them again but I didn't want to write any more sexual tension so you may imagine the continuation of this as you wish until I decide when I'm bringing the scene back in the next chapter.
> 
> Let me know what you think


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I have other fics I should be working on but this one just kinda flowed sooo heres another chapter?

“I know you booked a hostel but stay here tonight?” Chan asked as Woojin pulled back to breathe again. Chan didn’t need to breathe and Woojin was getting black spots in his vision trying to keep up.  
“I’m not going to sleep in your bed while you stay up all night again.”  
“I’ll sleep,” Chan said dismissively and bit into the muscle at the junction of Woojin’s neck and shoulder. Without the fangs and his venom it was painful and Woojin hissed, getting Chan to switch back to kissing over the mark. Hickeys were a dangerous game with Chan and Woojin had the puncture wounds to prove it.  
“In your bed?” Woojin pulled Chan off his neck and tugged his t-shirt back into place.  
“With you, in my bed,” Chan smiled hopefully.  
“Sure,” Woojin pressed a quick peck to Chan’s lips. “We’ll have to cuddle though.”  
“Urgh, what a hard life,” Chan said dramatically, swooning in Woojin's arms.

“Ew, Hyung not in my workshop,” Changbin whined. “What if Innie had walked in?” He was stood in the doorway holding some of the broken strings of crystals and pulling a comically disgusted face.  
“He’s still at school,” Chan dismissed the thought, sliding a hand down Woojin’s chest and hooking a finger into his belt loop.  
“It’s 5pm Hyung. He’ll be home soon.” Changbin turned to Woojin who was doing his best to appear confident and unbothered by the intrusion. “Are you staying for dinner or are you taking Channie-hyung out?”

“I- Uh- No, we-” Chan waved his hands in front of him in panic. “I can’t- the blood. We’re staying here,” he managed to say.  
Changbin raised his eyebrows. “Articulate, Channie-hyung.”  
“If I go out right now I might bite someone,” Chan sighed.  
“I can see that,” Changbin smirked, eyes on Woojin’s neck. “You better take him out to dinner later though,” Changbin ordered, puffing up his chest as he pointed a stern finger at Woojin. “Channie-hyung loves barbeque.”

“Are you done?” Chan asked, amused by Changbin’s little display of protectiveness.  
“No,” Changbin grinned. “Jisung! Felix! Come look!”  
“Nope!” Chan grabbed Woojin around the waist and pulled him up the stairs at full speed.

“They're probably all going to try that,” Chan warned apologetically once they were in his room with the door firmly shut.  
“That’s alright, they’re good kids.” Woojin smiled and wandered over to look at the collage of pictures Chan had decorating his walls. He could see that Jisung and Changbin had been with Chan the longest, Jisung so small in the oldest pictures as he excitedly showed the camera an ice cream cone almost a big as his head.  
“That’s his first charm,” Chan said fondly, pointing out another picture. “He and Binnie worked for weeks getting a quartz crystal exactly the right shape to conduct the magic. I was so proud of them.”  
“I bet,” Woojin said. Jisung was slightly blurry in the photo as if he had been quite literally vibrating with excitement when the picture was taken. “What’s that one?”

***  
Chan had taken out his laptop to explain the advances in mystic infrastructure when the door was nudged open by a tiny pale fox with giant eyes.  
“Oh, hiya Innie,” Chan scooped the fox up. “How was school?”  
“ _Absolute shit,”_ Jeongin yipped, settling in Chan’s lap.  
“Why was that?” Woojin asked and Jeongin jumped in surprise, tumbling comically to the floor.  
_“You can understand me!!_ ” Jeongin yelled, bouncing up into Woojin’s lap and pressing his tiny paws on Woojin’s chest to stare at him.  
“Yeah, I’m a shifter too,” Woojin said, patting down Jeongin’s raised fur. “Did you not know that other shifters could understand you?”  
_“No!”_ Jeongin slumped down in Woojin’s lap and rolled over, letting Woojin scratch his belly. _“My family can but Hyunjin-hyung can’t so I thought..”_  
“Ah, but Hyunjin is a Mer shifter, right? That’s a different branch- different language.”

“What’s going on?” Chan smiled, leaning over to tickle Jeongin’s ear.  
_“Woojin-hyung can understand me!”_ Jeongin exclaimed, stretching before leaping up and bounding around the room.  
“Uh-huh,” Chan laughed. “You’ve got a lot of energy today, Innie.”  
_“Woojin-hyung can understand me!”_ Jeongin crowed again, leaping up and shifting mid-jump to a rabbit-like creature to better bounce off the walls.  
“He’s excited,” Woojin translated.  
“I can see that,” Chan held out a hand and Jeongin jumped over it, still racing around the room. “Innie. Innie, come on I know you can hear me.”  
Jeongin ignored him and did a backflip off the wall.

“Jeongin, do you have more questions?” Woojin asked and the boy was immediately in his arms.  
_“Can you shift? Please? Shift with me?”_  
“I can’t right now, Jeonginnie,” Woojin said and suddenly there was a curled armadillo in his arms.  
_“Tomorrow,”_ came the muffled request.  
“No, I can’t for a long time.”  
“He wants you to shift?” Chan guessed.  
“Yeah,” Woojin sighed. He leaned down to the armadillo. “I’ll tell you a secret if you promise not to tell anyone.”

Jeongin uncurled and shifted back to his fox. Woojin took that as a cue to continue.  
“I shifted when I wasn’t supposed to and now I’m not allowed to for a month,” Woojin gave him the watered-down version.  
_“That happens?”_ Jeongin asked worriedly. He looked to Chan for confirmation, forgetting the vampire couldn’t understand him.  
“Yeah, that can happen.” Woojin answered for him. “That’s why it's really important that you never shift in front of humans.”  
_“I don’t but Hyunjinnie-hyung sometimes gets nervous and shifts by accident. They can’t make him stop, he can’t help it!”_  
“When you’re a kid it’s ok,” Woojin assured him. “And I’m sure Channie knows how to fix it if a human sees Hyunjin shift,” Woojin said, turning to Chan to for help.  
“Yes, it’s fine if Hyunjinnie shifts, Innie. Don’t worry. I can get Sungie to change their memories or I can call the council to come fix it if Sungie can’t.”

That was a lot to take in and Jeongin was silent for a moment.  
“ _Hyung, did you mean to? When you shifted and you weren’t supposed to.”_ Jeongin asked.  
“No, I didn’t mean it. I was really hungry but that’s not a good excuse. I should have had better control.”  
_“Well that’s not fair,”_ Jeongin said. He licked Woojin’s chin and leapt out of the room.  
From the hallway there was a scream and a cry of “Watch where you’re going, Maknae!” followed by a screech that even Woojin couldn’t interpret as words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeongin is a precious bean


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is 100% woochan no regrets

After making dinner and facing a barrage of questions from the boys Woojin finally could retreat to Chan's room. Chan, however, didn't join him.

"Chan." Woojin caught Chan for the third time working on his laptop when he said he was going to brush his teeth.  
Chan looked up guiltily. "I did brush my teeth!"  
"Most people then go to bed," Woojin said, reaching over Chan to save his work and shut the laptop down. "Come on, cuddle time."  
"But I'll never sleep," Chan protested but let Woojin lead him to his room.  
"Did I mention sleep?" Woojin asked. "I said cuddles. Do you not want cuddles?"  
"I want cuddles!" Chan latched onto Woojin's back and waddled the last few steps. "But after cuddles people sleep and I can't sleep," he mumbled dejectedly.

"Oh Channie," Woojin's heart broke at that.  
"It's fine," Chan said, mustering a broken smile. "I can get a lot of work done at night and then I have more money to give the boys what they deserve."  
" _You_ deserve rest, Chan," Woojin said pulling him under the covers. "And I've been trying to pay you for the wolfsbane since I got here, not to mention what I should give you for letting me eat and sleep here."

"I don't want you to pay," Chan, getting comfortable and pulling Woojin's leg over his hip. Without blood of his own, Chan didn't have any body heat but Woojin naturally ran warm and quickly brought Chan's skin to a human temperature as they lay together.  
"But I want to pay," Woojin wiggled to look Chan in the eyes. "Jeongin, Seungmin and Hyunjin's school can't be cheap. Let me help."  
"InMinJin, that's their nickname. Or JinMinIn, or MinInJin or-"  
"I get it, I get it," Woojin laughed.  
"Anyway, Seungmin's dad pays his tuition and Jeongin's parents pay his so I only have to pay Jinnie's and he's so good at swimming he got himself half scholarship."

"Isn't it cheating to get a swimming scholarship as a mer?" Woojin frowned.  
"He was using his legs!" Chan protested. "That's fair play!"  
"Can't he breathe underwater?"  
"... Yeah." Chan admitted eventually. "But I tell him to turn his head like the humans."  
"That's ok then," Woojin said sarcastically, enjoying himself far too much.  
"Like you've never fooled a human," Chan called him out.

Woojin laughed. "Oh no, puppy dog eyes every time. Gets me so much free food."  
"Puppy dog eyes?"  
Woojin demonstrated and Chan let it a soft gasp.  
"I would give you all my bacon," Chan said seriously.  
"Thanks, sweetheart," Woojin kissed the tip of Chan's nose. "I may hold you to that."

"Are you going to sleep now?" Chan asked as Woojin stifled a yawn.  
"Are you going to go back to work?" Woojin replied lightly, loosening his grip.  
"No, I'll stay here and get cuddles," Chan decided. "You don't snore, do you?"  
"Not that I know of," Woojin mumbled, pulling up his legs like he was used to doing to ward off the cold at night. Chan's soft words and his hand in Woojin's hair sent Woojin to sleep before they could finish the conversation.

***

When Woojin woke up the room was illuminated by the light of Chan's laptop. His head was still in the pillow, turned towards Chan's hip as Chan sat against the headboard with his laptop balanced on his knees.  
"What time's it?" Woojin asked, blinking slowly in the dim light.  
"Woojin! You're awake!" Chan said happily. "Did you sleep ok?"

Woojin stretched out his limbs, feeling satisfying cracks in his back and sat up. "Yes, I didn't wake up once. Did you sleep at all?"  
"I dozed a bit at the start," Chan failed to hold in a giggle as he saw Woojin's bed head and reached up to comb Woojin's hair with his fingers. "And to answer your first question- it's like 9am. InMinJin have gone to school but the others are still asleep.”  
“Don’t you have to open the shop?”  
“I will in a bit. I was on a roll with my research,” Chan indicated to his laptop.  
Woojin curled into Chan's side so they could both see. “You were researching shifters?” Woojin asked, clicking between tabs.

“I answer questions on a mystic forum,” Chan explained, clicking on the tab to show him pages of questions. “I didn’t know much about what you were telling Jeongin last night so I went on the forum but there’s hardly any information.  
“Of course you answer forum questions,” Woojin said fondly. “Helping six kids wasn’t enough for you.”  
“I didn’t have anyone when I turned,” Chan said defensively. “Jisung didn’t even know he was a witch until I accidentally told him and Hyunjin was living in the sewers. The sewers, Woojin. There’s so many people out there I could help. I have to do something.”

“I’m not judging you, Channie, I’m not,” Woojin squeezed his hand. “You said there wasn’t much info about shifters? What can I do?”  
“Ok!” Chan said excitedly. “First question- does it hurt to shift?  
“That depends more on if you’re shifting nerve-first or not,” Woojin explained. “If it’s not natural, it can be hard to teach. Jeongin is definitely a nerve-first shifter.”  
Chan hurried to write that down. “Are you nerve-first?”  
“I am now.” Woojin shook his head at the memory of that unbearable pain. “I had to learn so sometimes if I rush it..”  
“Ouch?” Chan winced.  
“Ouch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have now made a tiny edit bc a commentor pointed out i missed a perfect 3RACHA reference and i WILL NOT let that go to waste


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a bit of a short chapter but i have another short chapter with some members that have sadly been missing recently that will probably be out later today

“Channnnnnie,” Jisung whined, pushing open the door with his chest and poutily shuffling into the room to flop onto the bed. “Make me coffee.”  
“Good morning to you too, Sungie,” Chan smiled softly. “Why don’t you make your own coffee?”  
“Becaaaaauuse! It tastes funny and I’m tired and Changbin and Felix are giggling in my room and I want-” Jisung screamed, having turned over mid-rant and noticed Woojin staring at him in amusement.   
“Good morning, Jisung,” Woojin grinned.  
“No it fucking isn’t,” Jisung said with feeling.

“Language, Jisung!” Chan scolded him, cuffing his head.  
“Hyung, you can’t hit me I’m fragile,” Jisung wailed.  
“My patience for your nonsense is fragile,” Chan warned him but got up all the same to go make Jisung coffee.   
When he left Jisung flipped over to grin at Woojin, burying under the covers of the spot Chan just vacated.  
“You have him wrapped around your finger,” Woojin noted.  
“Yeah, so be good to him or I’ll boycott you,” Jisung threatened, closing his eyes. “You smell nice, do you use perfume?”

Woojin was glad Jisung had his eyes closed and didn’t see whiplash Woojin got from the conversation change. “Yeah? I bought a new one yesterday but that shouldn’t be on my pyjamas.”  
Jisung sniffed. “It doesn’t smell like Hyung so it must be you. Maybe it’s your soap or something.”  
Woojin was at a loss for words as Jisung let out a contented sigh and fell back asleep, his fluffy blue hair spread out on the pillow.

Chan came back carefully carrying two mugs. “He fell asleep again, didn’t he,” he asked, not surprised.  
Woojin nodded and accepted his mug from Chan, careful not to carry it over the sleeping boy. Chan placed the other mug on the bedside table and crawled up from the bottom of the bed to sit leaning back on Woojin’s chest in the small amount of space left on the single bed. Woojin’s mug contained wolfsbane tea, a taste he was starting to hate, but he drank it anyway knowing the itch to shift would be much worse if he didn’t.

“Did you have anything to drink Channie?” Woojin asked softly, twirling a curl of hair by Chan’s ear around his finger.  
“I’m not hungry.”  
“You are. Have the same amount as yesterday. That was ok, right? And then you can have something tasty for breakfast,” Woojin tempted him.

“Fuck’s sake, is there nowhere in this house free from PDA,” Jisung gumbled, rolling gracelessly out of the bed to a heap on the floor.  
“This is my room?” Chan said. “Nobody forced you to come in here.”  
Jisung glowered over the edge of the mattress at him. “You wanna try being in my room right now?”  
“Touché,” Chan replied. “We’ll tone it down.”  
Woojin did _not_ agree to that. He only started kissing Chan the day before but it was something he had every intention of continuing. Frequently. “What’s wrong with your room?” he asked Jisung.  
“Felix is somewhat, enamoured, with Changbin,” Chan said diplomatically.

“He thinks the sun shines out of Changbin’s ass,” Jisung agreed, less diplomatically. “And I don’t know why because Changbin-hyung barely speaks any Fae and Felix can’t follow any Korean so they just sit there giggling over fucking nothing!”   
“Jisung is also a little upset that Changbin will hug Felix but not him,” Chan stage-whispered to Woojin.  
“I am a lot bit upset! He’s known me way longer!”  
“Drink your coffee, baby,” Chan placated him, letting Jisung curl into his side with a scowl on his face. “If you help me run the shop today without any explosions you can go buy cheesecake later.”  
Jisung’s eyes lit up and he gulped down his coffee with little noises of pain at the hot liquid. “I’ll be downstairs in 10 minutes!” Jisung promised as he narrowly avoided a collision with the door on his way out.

“I guess that means I have to get out of bed too,” Chan sighed. He tipped back his head onto Woojin’s shoulder, his eyebrows scrunched in an adorable frown.   
Woojin pressed a kiss to his forehead because that was something he could do. “I don’t know.” Woojin pretended to contemplate. “I think scorch marks on the ceiling would really compliment the disco lights aesthetic.”  
“It’s not disco, you uncultured heathen,” Chan argued, trying not to laugh as he wriggled out of Woojin’s arms. “It’s cool and mysterious.”  
“Sure thing, mystery chicken.”  
“I regret telling you that story.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just some seungminxhyunjinxjeongin chaos bc i keep sending them off to school and i miss them

Jeongin slammed his dinner tray down on the table making the cardboard pizza on it jump. “I called this emergency meeting because we have a new Dad.”  
“Woojin-hyung isn’t our Dad,” Hyunjin said, glancing around to check nobody had become interested in their conversation by Jeongin’s dramatic entrance.  
“He hecking should be!” Jeongin retorted.  
“Innie,” Seungmin said calmly, straightening the younger boy’s blazer. “Please don’t say ‘hecking’ at school. You’re embarrassing.”  
“He _fucking_ should be!” Jeongin rephrased, too excited to consider his words.  
“ _Terra help me_ ,” Seungmin said under his breath. “Go back to ‘hecking.’ You definitely can’t use Fae swears at school. Who raised you?”  
“Channie-hyung!” Jeongin said brightly. That was half of the problem. Chan was far too lax on mystic secrecy. “And now Woojin-hyung!”

Seungmin and Hyunjin shared a look, both willing the other to take a lead in this conversation they had no idea how to tackle.  
“Look, Innie,” Hyunjin started, abandoning his food to put a comforting arm around Jeongin. “It’s not that we don’t like Woojin-hyung. He’s great! It’s just that Woojin-hyung is an adult so he’ll probably stay until he doesn’t need ‘tea’ anymore and then leave.” Hyunjin hoped Jeongin would take the conversation cues and not blurt out that they knew a werewolf in the middle of the dining hall. Kids and phones and someone was always recording. This was just the kind of shit that went viral.  
“Woojin-hyung isn’t just a customer. He slept in Channie-hyung’s bed. Twice.” Jeongin wasn’t convinced.  
“Sometimes adults share beds, Innie,” Seungmin said. “That doesn’t mean they stay.”

“Urgh, I know! I know what adults do in beds!” Jeonging said, shrugging off Hyunjin’s arm. That earned him a few concerned stares but he continued regardless.“You saw how happy and giggly Channie-hyung was at dinner, right? He really likes Woojin-hyung. And Woojin-hyung said he would teach me about-” Jeongin cut himself off as Seungmin shot him the stink-eye. “About ‘tea’,” he finished hesitantly.  
“Maybe he’s telling the truth,” Seungmin was unconvinced. “What don’t you know about ‘tea’ anyway, Innie? I thought your parents would have told you everything.”  
“They taught me about my kind of ‘tea’ but not everything I think because I’m still a kid. Like I know my dad-” Jeongin cut himself off again, eyeing the surrounding students warily. “My parents don’t make the same type of tea but they won’t tell me why.”

“This is hurting my brain,” Hyunjin whined, flopping onto the table and gnawing on his stale bread. “Can’t we talk about this at home when we can actually say what we mean?”  
“No!” Jeongin huffed. “You have to say you’ll help make Woojin-hyung stay!” He held his pizza slice threateningly by Hyunjin’s head when he didn’t immediately reply and it was a testament to how bad the food was that the slice stayed rigid.  
“Fine! I’ll help make Woojin-hyung stay,” Hyunjin grumbled. “Will you drop it now?”   
“Seungminnie-hyung, you too.” Jeongin turned his pizza on the Imp.

“I can’t say it,” Seungmin said, focusing on his food.  
“Great time to decide to be truthful, Minnie,” Hyunjin kicked him under the table until Seungmin looked up to see his glare.  
“I will act in a manner such that our family appeals to Woojin-hyung. Will that do?” He said testily.  
“Why do you have to use words like that,” Jeongin complained. “That means you could do pretty much anything.” He threw a carrot at Seungmin who caught it in his mouth with a sly grin.  
“Correct. But I want Chan-hyung to be happy too, so I’ll not play any pranks.”

“...Good.” Jeongin narrowed his eyes suspiciously. It wasn’t like Seungmin to give in so easily.  
“Ah, ah, ah!” Hyunjin called out in panic around a mouthful of food. “Minnie didn’t specify who he’s not playing pranks on or for how long!”  
“You’re getting better at noticing,” Seungmin grudgingly admitted but didn’t clarify either point.

***

“Minnie, will you eat my vegetables?” Hyunjin asked with a pout. “I thought these were battered squid but it’s onion.”  
“Kinda racist to presume I’ll eat your vegetables,” Seungmin retorted, ignoring Hyunjin’s plate as it was pushed across the table.  
“Isn’t it cannibalism for you to eat squid, Hyung?” Jeongin asked.   
“Squid isn’t the same as octopus and you’re one to talk, Innie. Everything you eat is cannibalism.” Hyunijn dismissed him and focused on looking as pitiful as possible to Seungmin.

“Kim Seungminnnnnie.” Hyunjin sang, watching for the telltale twitch in Seungmin’s smile. “You’re the best friend in the whole worlds. I love you soooo much.”  
“ _Terra, fine_. I’ll eat your stupid onion rings.” Seungmin snapped, grabbing them quickly with his chopsticks and shoving a few in his mouth. “I’m not eating your vegetables at dinner though,” he mumbled around his mouthful.  
Hyunjin gasped but was only held silent for a second. “Innnie, you know how I love you…”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please bear in mind that this is a prequel. Nothing says dramatic like gays in a crisis

“What is it?” Woojin asked. Chan had paused in his stock ordering for the fourth time to tilt his head and stared worriedly in Woojin’s direction. Woojin had ignored the first three times, pretending to be engrossed in the book he had found but clearly something was bothering Chan.  
“Is it my blood again?” Woojin guessed. Chan had taken a second shot of blood with almost as much disgust as the first time just before they sat down and Woojin was honestly surprised the vampire had stayed still this long.  
“It’s not your blood,” Chan said, frowning harder. “Your heartbeat is just really fast.”  
“I’m sitting next to you, Chan,” Woojin reminded him, feeling embarrassed. “Cute boy I want to kiss. Makes my heart go doki doki and all that.”

“It’s not that.” A ghost of a smile flashed across Chan’s face at the compliment before his frown returned. “It’s going less doki doki and more do-doki, doki-doki, do, do-doki. Really fast. I should have noticed before but I guess the blood I took made it more obvious.” Chan reached forward slowly and put his fingers over the pulsepoint on Woojin’s neck. The action alone was enough to raise Woojin’s pulse. 

Chan zoned out as he listened again. “It’s not normal.”  
“In a poisoned kind of way?” Woojin asked lightly. Now he was made aware of it he could tell something wasn’t right. He desperately focused on breathing deeply and staying calm. The last thing his heart needed was a shot of adrenaline.  
“In a poisoned kind of way,” Chan agreed hollowly, his eyes never leaving Woojin’s. “How do you feel apart from that?”

Woojin considered his body for a moment. It was something he had been keeping his mind off for the last few days, missing the feel of his fur, the sharpness of his hearing, the power in his limbs. He focused now.  
“I’m tired,” Woojin said. “Dizzy. I guess I feel a little sick.” Truthfully, Woojin felt like he could pass out at any moment.  
“And how much of that book have you read since we sat down?” Chan asked. He tilted Woojin’s head from side to side and Woojin faintly registered that he was checking his vision. Chan’s heightened senses were bound to pick up all sorts of signs a human doctor wouldn’t.  
“I don’t even know what it’s about,” Woojin admitted. He’d definitely read words but he couldn’t recall a single sentence. _You’re going to be fine,_ Woojin told himself. _Chan will look after you._

Chan would, in theory, look after him but right now Chan was starting to panic.  
“There’s no antidote. I gave you poison and you’re dying and there’s no antidote.” This was all said in a panicked whisper because they were in the stock room and the kids were in the shop just down the hall. “Should I give you my blood? Do you even want to be a vampire? What if it doesn’t work in time?” 

Woojin pulled Chan’s hands into his lap and smiled reassuringly. “You gave me a small amount of boiled poison. I’m not dying, please keep your blood to yourself.”  
Though Woojin had never died before, he’d come close a number of times. This didn’t feel nearly as imminent, though reasonably that could also be an effect of the poison.  
“I can hear your heart!” Chan hissed. “It’s not supposed to sound like that _at all.”_ He cupped Woojin’s face and Woojin decided it was best not to tell Chan that his face was slightly numb and he couldn’t really feel his hand. 

____

“I’ll get better in an hour or so,” Woojin reasoned. “You gave me the same thing yesterday and the day before and I was fine.”  
“But your heart-!”  
“Probably did this yesterday too,” Woojin cut him off, reaching up to take Chan hand and interlace their fingers. “You hadn’t had any blood yet so it wouldn’t have been so noticeable.”  
“How are you so calm about this?” Chan asked, tears threatening to spill in the corners of his eyes. Woojin hated that he was the cause of Chan’s pain. He had to be the strong one here. 

“If I panic then my heart rate will increase,” Woojin focused on the facts and the fine details of Chan’s face. Chan’s eyes were slightly downturned so the tears ran down the sides of his cheeks and not his nose and when his lower lip stopped trembling his lips formed the shape of a heart. Woojin kissed the heart. “I’m not panicking because I’m not dying.” 

Slowly Chan calmed down and his nurturing instincts as a father of six kicked back in.  
“We need to get you lying down,” Chan decided, wiping away his tears. “Your heart is struggling and we need to be sure oxygen is reaching your brain.”  
Woojin let Chan ever so carefully pick him up and set him down on the floor by the window, resting his head on a bag of something soft. Chan then lifted Woojin’s legs and sat, knees pressing again the back of Woojin’s thighs with Woojin’s calves resting on his shoulders. It was a questionable position to say the least but they had other priorities. Namely, keeping Woojin’s heart beating. 

“Is that better?” Woojin asked Chan teasingly. Weirdly, having Chan panic was helping him grounded.  
“It’s more doki doki now,” Chan rested his cheek against Woojin’s leg and sighed shakily. “Still really fast though.”  
“Ok, keep me updated.” Woojin closed his eyes, just for a second. He was really tired. 

“No, Woojin! Woojin, stay awake!” Chan pinched his thigh.  
“I’m awake,” Woojin whined. “I just closed my eyes.” He was so tired and your heart rate normally slowed when you slept, right? Sleep would be good for him.  
“Keep them open,” Chan demanded. “Or I’ll call the council.” His worried frown was back so Woojin resigned himself to consciousness.  
“They’d probably be glad if I died,” Woojin grumbled. “It would be less paperwork. I think that’s why they let me go. It was less paperwork.”  
“No, baby, they wouldn’t let you die.” Chan was shaking Woojin’s legs slightly to keep him awake but all Woojin could focus on was the pet name.  
“They have really good medics that could heal you without even thinking about it." Chan continued. "I’d have my big strong wolf back in no time.”  
Woojin did not want the title of ‘big strong wolf’. Being a big strong wolf was tiring and lonely and Woojin had had enough. He wanted the title of Chan’s baby. Having Chan look after him for the rest of his life sounded pretty excellent. 

Woojin was disturbed from his embarrassingly domestic daydreams by the door slamming open, rattling the shelves.  
"Hey Hyung, can you add one more thing to- ah!" Changbin shut the door firmly with a scream.  
"Bin!" Chan called impatiently. "Come back here!"  
"I don't want to see that," Changbin whined from the other side of the door.  
"Changbin. It's an emergency." 

That brought Changbin back quickly and as he realised both his hyungs were fully clothed and neither seemed to be enjoying themselves.  
"What kind of emergency?" Changbin asked nervously.  
"I'm fine, Chan's overreacting," Woojin said quickly, hoping to prevent Chan working everyone into a panic unnecessary.  
"His heart is giving out," Chan said. "It's the wolfsbane." 

“ _Channie!_ It’s not that bad,” Woojin argued.  
“So the wolfsbane is killing Woojin-hyung?” Changbin asked, confused but surprisingly calm.  
“Nearly,” Chan said and covered Woojin’s mouth before he could reject that claim. “Jinnie, please stop arguing. It’s increasing your heart rate.”  
Woojin glowered playfully but kept his mouth shut. Everything was a bit hazy.  
“Can’t we help him?” Changbin asked. “There’s an antidote, right?” 

"There's no antidote," Chan stared into Woojin's eyes. This time he said it there was no panic, no fear. “But he’s be fine if he would just stay still and relax.” The last words were aimed at Woojin with an exasperated smile.  
“I _tried_ to relax but you told me to keep my eyes open.” Woojin retorted. Chan stuck out his tongue. 

Changbin gagged pointedly. “How are you already an old married couple? If it’s not _actually_ an emergency I’m going to go do something better. Like watch Jisung butter the floor or stare at a blank wall.” Changbin pulled a face at Chan and stalked out of the room.  
A second later he was back, banging on the door. “And add sweetcorn to the stock order!” 

“Did.. did he say ‘watch Jisung butter the floor’?” Chan asked.  
“And ‘add sweetcorn to the stock order’,” Woojin said unhelpfully. “Do you think the two are related?”  
Chan sighed. “Knowing those three..I need to go check on them.” He considered Woojin for a moment, making the werewolf’s heart jump which was unfortunate since that was no doubt what Chan was listening to. Sure enough, the right side of Chan’s lips twitched up into a smile. “Enjoying the view?”  
“It could be better.” Woojin let out a breathe he didn’t even know he was holding. 

“Stay here, don’t move.” Chan ordered sternly as he took Woojin’s legs off his shoulders and stood up. “Don’t fall asleep either. I’ll be back in a minute.”  
“I’m going to bench press the table,” Woojin teased. “100 reps a minute until you get back.”  
Chan knelt down, his blonde hair a halo with the light above him, and kissed Woojin’s cheek. “Yell if you need me. If you hear screaming it’s normal.”  
“Don’t torture your kids!” Woojin called after him.  
“Can’t promise that!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really gotta give felix more lines


	15. Chapter 15

Woojin could swear that he didn't fall asleep. Felix's freckled smile just appeared in his line of vision between blinks.  
"Hi hello, Woojin-hyung."  
"Hi Felix." Woojin was glad to see whatever butter-associated madness that had been going on hadn’t cost him his limbs or his optimism.  
"Changbin-hyung said your inside go fast?" Felix’s smile dimmed slightly as he clearly struggled to remember the phrasing Changbin had used  
"Ah, yes, my heart is going fast because of the tea Chan gave me."

Felix frowned and quickly crouched to press his ear to Woojin's chest. Woojin tugged him up until Felix's ear was above his heart and not his stomach.  
"This fast not good?" Felix asked, listening intently.  
"No, it needs to be slower," Woojin explained. He couldn't elaborate with their limited shared vocabulary, that it was a side effect of a toxin and that his heart rate would slow once the poison was out his system. 

Felix nodded anyway and said something in Fae, rubbing a little circle onto Woojin's t-shirt above his heart. Woojin felt a strange sensation in his chest. Chan had said that Jisung could do magic but Woojin had never heard of the Fae having that ability too. Surely Felix would have warned him?  
"What did you do, Lixie?" he asked lightly. It couldn't have been anything bad as Woojin was already finding it easier to breathe.

"Fae is living language," Felix said proudly. "You is living. I ask your heart to be less fast if it liked to do it."  
"You asked my heart to slow down?" Woojin asked incredulously. "That's amazing, Felix!"  
"I just ask, you do it," Felix said shyly, ducking his head.  
Woojin pulled the boy down until Felix tipped over into his arms. Felix giggled and braced himself as best he could in Woojin’s grip to keep his weight off the ill boy.

“I think I owe you now, huh Lixie?” Woojin joked, letting the boy up and shakily sitting upright himself. He wasn’t quite as light-headed as he had been before but it was probably best if he didn’t stand. Chan would throw a fit.  
Felix’s eyes widened and he shook his head, waving his hands in front of him. “No, no debt. You are my friend!”

“Debt’s are currency to the Fae,” Changbin explained from the door where he had been silently observing with a fond smile. “And we have raised Lixie in the 3RACHA mindset of not accepting money from friends.” Changbin winked at Woojin as Felix barreled into his side, asking a question in lilting Fae. Changbin answered and flicked the tip of Felix’s nose before the young freckled boy dashed off again.  
“You guys weren’t going to accept payment even when the new order came, were you?” Woojin said bitterly. He gave Changbin the side-eye but it had no effect.  
Instead Changbin pushed off the doorframe and puffed up his chest proudly. “Nope! Nobody was buying that wolfsbane anyway and you’re practically family now so it’s definitely free if we get more.” He crossed the room and rearranged the boxes so Woojin had something to lean against. There was a pause as Changbin waited to check Woojin was comfortable and considered his next words. “About that- I don’t think you should take wolfsbane any more. Channie-hyung said you were close to cardiac arrest.”

“I can’t shift,” Woojin sighed. He also would prefer not to take wolfsbane anymore but if he could just deal with it for a few more days a lower dose would be enough to stave off the twitching in his bones.  
“You keep saying that but it can’t be worth it. It’s stopping your shifts but it’s nearly killing you.” Changbin sounded worried. 

Woojin should have just handled this by himself instead of burdening everyone with his problems. He never should have agreed when Chan invited him upstairs that first day. Now he was lying to these kids on top of everything.

“If I shift now I won’t be able to stay as a human anymore,” Woojin said. It wasn’t exactly a lie. If he shifted the council would be alerted by his tag and he’d be sent to jail for sure. 

The council didn’t give three strikes- he was lucky enough as it was to have been let go the first time. What exactly happened when you were taken by the council, nobody was really sure. Rumours were rife and he’d been told them all as a pup to keep him in line. They take your human side away and you’re left as a wolf. They take your wolf side away and you’re left as a human. Either was terrifying for a wolf pup. Some say you’d be mind wiped and brought into servitude. Woojin could at least testify to the mind wipe- he had no idea of most of what he’s seen in that council building wherever it was. Presumably in Seoul but it could have been in Australia for all he knew of how he got there or how he left. Whatever the outcome, Woojin was sure it wouldn’t be pleasant if his single night in the cell was anything to go by. He’d stop his shift until the month was up until it killed him.

Changbin was still sitting back on his heels staring worriedly at him. “You’re really not going to stop taking wolfsbane even after this.” He could read it in Woojin’s eyes.  
“Sorry, Changbinnie.” Woojin looked down at his hands and didn’t deny it. “I can leave.”  
Changbin held him down with surprising force. “You’re not going anywhere. You can take less wolfsbane and we’ll look after you! Felix can help keep your heart rate lower and maybe Jisungie can do a spell and-”  
“Jisungie is banned from magic for a week,” Chan said, coming into the room and gravitating towards Woojin.  
“Why?” Changbin asked, affronted. “He wasn’t even using magic this time!”

“Felix is banned from flying and you are banned from your toolbox,” Chan continued.  
“Unfair!” Changbin protested.  
“What did they do, Channie?” Woojin asked, leaning into Chan’s side. “It couldn’t have been that bad if I didn’t hear any bangs.”  
“That’s only because I stopped them in time!” Chan sighed and leaned his head on top of Woojin’s. “Sorry, I’m just stressed. You guys are unbanned or whatever.” He waved a hand in Changbin’s direction. “Can you go help clean up.”  
Changbin was quick to comply, no doubt not wanting his sudden freedom to be reversed.

“You’re stressed?” Woojin asked, interlinking their fingers.  
“Little bit,” Chan admitted. “You really scared me earlier and the kids..”  
“What were they doing?” Clearly nobody had been injured so Woojin was more intrigued that anything.  
“I think making a pentagram,” Chan winced.  
Well that was unexpected.  
“With butter?” Woojin pulled back to look Chan in the eyes.  
Chan was clearly just as baffled. “We have olive oil. I don’t know why they didn’t use that? I would say that’s better as far as botched rituals go.” 

Woojin personally thought the use of butter was probably in their favour as it was less likely to go up in flames.  
“Have you not told them that demons aren’t real?” Woojin whispered, slyly grinning at Chan.  
“I can’t!” Chan pouted at the thought. “They’re just kids and Changbin’s face still lights up when he reads about them. It would break his heart to hear they’re not real.”  
“You’re a terrible parent.” Woojin teased, getting comfortable and headbutting Chan to get him to laugh along.  
“I have terrible kids,” Chan argued.

"You know, I once thought I saw a unicorn when I was a pup," Woojin said wistfully. He could remember the moment so clearly, reinforced and recoloured with figments of his imagination. The still forest and the shaft of sunlight that light what must have been a deer for half a second before it hid in the ferns. "My mum let me believe it for years."  
Chan gasped childishly and hit Woojin on the arm. "How can you say that! Unicorns are real! They are!" He whined like a toddler.  
"Channie." Woojin tried to be stern but Chan had clearly perfected his strop over the years  
“They’re real!!” Chan said with fake anger. “And if you drink their blood you’ll never be hungry ever again!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Felix is the sweetest boy. Jisung is a fire hazard.
> 
> Sorry this took a while to update I'm back at uni now but I had a massive deadline on monday


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woojin isnt dead- check  
> felix isnt dead- undecided

Woojin comforted Chan through his short comedic unicorn rant that Woojin suspected held hints to a deeper long-standing issue. However, before Woojin could coax Chan to reveal his no-doubt tragic backstory (they all had one in a world where your identity wasn’t spoken about) Chan expertly turned the sympathy off himself.

“Are you feeling ok now, Jinnie?” he asked, feeling the temperature of Woojin’s forehead. “Do you think you could stand up? We should get you something easy to eat. We have a chocolate stash for Sungie somewhere-” he cut off his ramble with a gasp. “Can you eat chocolate? By Terra, what if I’d poisoned you again!”  
“Chocolate is fine, Channie,” Woojin placated but this did nothing to stop Chan’s worrying as Woojin used his distraction to stand and begin walking out the room.  
Chan yelped and was at his side in an instant.  
“It’s worn off, Chan. I’m fine.” Woojin said, trapping one of Chan’s fluttering hands in his. “Big strong wolf again.”  
Chan narrowed his eyes, unconvinced, but let Woojin walk by himself through the shop and upstairs to the kitchen.

“Woojin-ah-hyung!” Jisung exclaimed as they entered the shop. “You didn’t die!” He had turned his head to give Woojin a heart-shaped smile but was still dutifully filming Changbin doing surprising neat pirouettes on the smear of butter in the middle of the shop floor.  
“It takes more than that to kill me,” Woojin assured him.  
“It takes very little to kill me!” Jisung said proudly, zooming in on Changbin’s forehead.

“Felix!” Chan admonished, having been attracted to a different disaster. “Get out the window!”  
“I’m seeing the peoples, Channie-hyung!” Felix said. “If there are no peoples I spin like Hyung and fly.”  
Chan walked over and manhandled Felix out the window display. “Peoples or no peoples, you aren’t allowed to have your wings out down here, Lixie.” 

Felix became a pouting sack of potatoes in Chan’s arms and slid out of the vampire’s grasp. This tripped Changbin up and the pair of them, greased in butter, slid across the floor and crashed into a bookcase with a resounding thud. Jisung, still filming, had dropped to his knees with tears of joy streaming down his face as struggled to hold the camera steady through his silent laughter.

Chan turned to Woojin and tilted his head as if to say _‘do you see what I have to put up with?’_  
Woojin did see what he had to put up with and if he was being honest it was greatly entertaining.  
“You good there, Changbin?” Woojin enquired.  
Changbin grunted and held up one thumb.  
“Felix?”  
“I maybe die,” the fae boy replied, rubbing his shoulder.  
In the background Jisung finally remembered to breathe and rolled onto his side, cackling maniacally. He seemed completely unconcerned for his friends’ safety. 

“What did you hurt, Lixie?” Chan asked patiently, crouching down to help the boy. “Did you crush your wing?”  
Felix twisted to lift his t-shirt and froze mid-motion as the bell above the door jingled. A disheveled man stumbled through the doorway. He blinked rapidly, leaning on the door handle as he squinted at the carnage in front of him. Chan had automatically moved to cover Felix and Jisung’s laughter died in his throat.

 

"Chicken?" the man slurred eventually.  
"Next door," Changbin told him as the others all pointed in sinc to the left. The man left without another word.

"Does that happen a lot?" Woojin asked when the tension broke.  
"About three times a week," Jisung answered, typing away at his phone with casual indifference now the danger was gone. "That was Eunsung. The sign confuses him. I've lost count of how many times I've had to wipe his memory but he's normally to shitfaced to notice."  
"Poor Eunsung, the takeout doesn't open until 5 he's got a long wait for chicken," Changbin added.  
“Have you considered... changing the sign?” Woojin suggested. A giant picture of a chicken wasn’t the most helpful signage for a ‘jewellery’ shop situated right next to a takeout.  
“Have you considered... changing your opinion?” Chan shot back cheekily.  
Changbin and Jisung made the appropriate ‘ooooohh’ of appreciation at Chan’s wit.  
“You are cooked, Woojin-hyung!” Felix exclaimed.  
“Burn, Lixie,” Jisung corrected with a giggled. “Just say ‘burn’, ok?”  
“Burn Woojin-hyung!” Felix said obediently.  
“Toasted Werewolf!” Chan added, pumping his fist in the air.  
Jisung shook his head. “You know what, we’ll work on that one Lixie. You’ll get it soon.”

“Well, since appears I’m unloved here…” Woojin let his sentence hang in the air as he slowly made his way to the door, dragging his feet. “I guess I’ll just have to go.”  
“I’m coming with you!” Chan said suddenly. “Just let me check Lixie first.”  
“Ah, no it’s fine,” Woojin replied awkwardly, acutely aware the kids were listening intently. “I’m just going to the bank.”  
Jisung’s eyes narrowed. “You went to the bank yesterday.”  
“And don’t even think of paying us.” Changbin threatened, pointing his finger at Woojin. His hair had flopped over his eyes but Woojin was sure Changbin was giving his best glare.

Woojin held up his hands even though the dwarf posed zero threat.  
“I’m not taking money out,” he assured the boys. “The shifters’ bank handles our identity and documentation too. I’m just trying to sort everything out now I’m human for a while this time.”  
Changbin accepted that without problem but Jisung was still suspicious.  
“How long is a while?”  
“At least a month.”  
“And after that?”

“I don’t know, Jisungie,” Woojin admitted. He’d grown close to everyone in just a few days and then there was Chan. Woojin had had every intention of staying out his month in Seoul and then running as far from urbanisation as possible. However, if he still felt what he felt for Chan right now at the end of the month, Woojin couldn’t see himself leaving that, leaving Chan behind. He didn’t want to even consider loving Chan or his kids more. They could be his future pack, his permanent family and as wonderful as the dream was it also terrified him.

“Would you want to stay in Seoul?” Jisung asked. There was more that mischief to the witch and Woojin could tell he was the most aware and wary of the dynamic shifts Woojin brought into his family. Woojin didn’t grudge him the interrogation.  
“If I had reason to,” Woojin said carefully.  
Jisung’s eyes slid to look at Chan. Chan had his hand under the back of Felix’s shirt, doing a terrible job of avoiding potential suspicion as he checked over the joints of Felix’s wings. While his hand was busy, Chan’s eyes were sharply following the confrontation. He smiled warmly at Jisung’s gaze and Jisung stuck his tongue out at him.

When Jisung turned back to Woojin his serious face was back. “Would you stay here?” There was a challenge to his question.  
_“Are you serious about Chan?”_ His question really asked. _“Do you accept all of us too, or is it just Chan?”_  
It was never just Chan for Woojin. Sure, he met Chan first and Chan showed him boundless kindness and caring but the kids were each incredibly special in their own way. Woojin could see they had so much potential and excitement for life Woojin hadn’t seen in a long time and he wanted to stay to see them grow into themselves.  
“I don’t think there’s room for me here,” Woojin joked. “Your hyung needs to sleep too at some point and I can’t keep stealing his bed.”  
“You both seemed to fit just fine this morning,” Jisung scoffed.

“Jisung,” Chan said, playful mixed with warning. “I think you’ve questioned Woojin enough.”  
“Yeah, we don’t want to know if Channie-hyung is fucking,” Changbin added, quickly leaping up with a yelp as Chan made a swipe at him. He ran behind Jisung, giggling maniacally and held the younger boy in front of him like a shield.  
“Ok, Lixie you’re fine,” Chan announced, prodding the boy sharply in the shoulder so he fell over. Felix feinted betrayal and clutched at his heart until Changbin returned to scoop him up and Felix melted, smiling up at him.  
Chan ignored them, turning to pout at Woojin. “Jinnie, please take me with you.”

“Why do you get to go out?” Changbin asked. “I want to go out.”  
“Are you forgetting the pentagram, Binnie?” Chan smirked. “It’s not even been half an hour.”  
“Nothing went on fire this time!” Changbin protested. “Can’t I take Lixie out for lunch?”  
“Ya! Take me too, Hyung!” Jisung interjected.  
“I’m going to take Woojin to see Jinyoung-hyung,” Chan said quietly to Changbin. Woojin didn’t think he was supposed to hear but Felix was still working on his pronunciation and echoed the end of Chan’s sentence.  
The name held meaning to Changbin as the boy dropped his argument with a quiet _‘oh’._ Woojin didn’t know what to make of that as Chan took his hand and led the way out the door with noisy goodbyes. Who was this Jinyoung to Chan and why did Changbin look scared?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you've read my other works you know i like to bring in 'jinyoung' just to add some tension so yeaaaah that'll be ahappening. i hope you enjoyed the comedy for now


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm warning you now- this is the bad chapter. This has been in the plan from the start its just horrendous luck that the turning point is now
> 
> EDIT: This has now been slightly added too and hopefully improved, thanks to some very helpful feedback from commenters. Thank you guys so much for helping me be better

As they rounded the corner at the top of the street a bus was just pulling up to it’s stop and Chan dragged Woojin to catch it. He hadn’t answered Woojin’s question as to where they were going and Woojin hadn’t gotten a chance to read the bus destination so he was completely in the dark.

“Channie.” Woojin tried again as the bus meandered towards the business district.  
“Don’t you trust me, Woojinnie?” Chan asked with a dimpled smile.   
An old woman turned and glared at them for having to audacity to talk. Or perhaps Chan's tone had been a touch too homosexual for her. It was so difficult to tell these days. Now gays were, in majority, tolerated the homophobia had become more subtle, nuanced. Woojin hadn't learnt the finer details and he wasn't particularly interested in doing so. He ignored the woman in favour of trying to get information for Chan.

“I would still like to know where we’re going,” Woojin pressed him. “I have a horrible feeling you’re going to do something big and no let me pay for it again.”  
“It’s not something you can pay for,” Chan grinned.  
“That’s not reassuring in the slightest.”  
Chan's grin only grew.

Soon enough Chan dragged him back off the bus. They had almost entered the shopping district and Woojin had started imagining all the possible secret mystic shops like 3RACHA that Chan could show him. That would have to wait for another time as they disembarked in front of a wall of polished skyscrapers.

“Channie.”  
“Trust me, Jinnie.” Chan repeated. He fiddled with the scarf he had procured from thin air and wrapped around Woojin's neck. “Do you feel ok?”  
“I’m fine. Can you-” Woojin was cut off as Chan linked their arms and frogmarched them into one of the towering buildings. “Chan!"

The lobby had a barrier of glass turnstiles and a desk with a bored security guard, staring them down over the rim of his black coffee.   
“Can I have an appointment with Park Jinyoung, please?” Chan asked the guard instead of slinking back out the door in a half-bow like Woojin was trying to do.  
The guard raised one eyebrow.  
“Tell him it’s Bang Chan- wait no, Chris Bang.”  
“And why would I do that?” the guard asked.

Woojin had found the one part of the lobby that wasn’t made of a reflective surface -the doormat- and was doing his best to blend in. He did not belong in this shiny building, no matter who his friends were. Something about the smell of it was off too. On the surface it was a bland 'nature' smell that never smelt like outdoors but underneath that was the faint note of a much harsher chemical. It set Woojin on edge, even more so because he couldn't work out where he knew the smell from.

“Well, otherwise I’d just call him,” Chan was saying, waving his phone. “I thought it would be rude though. What if he was in a meeting and I disturbed him? It is an emergency but you know he’s such a busy man I’m willing to wait until he has a few minutes to talk.”  
The guard glared but picked up his phone. “Chris Bang for Mr. Park. No appointment,” he drawled to the receiver. His eyes rolled back to Chan as he was put on hold and he gestured to Woojin. “Is he with you?”

“Yes, he’s the reason for the appointment,” Cha smiled winningly. He beckoned Woojin and Woojin reluctantly approached the desk.  
The guard rolled his chair back as someone spoke on the call. He grunted. “Fine” He hung up the call and pressed a button under the desk to open the disabled gate. “On you go, Hotshot,” he told Chan. “I’m sure you know the way.”  
“Thank you!” Chan smiled again and pulled Woojin after him through the turnstiles and up to the _gold_ elevator. How rich did you have to be to afford a gold elevator?

 

“Are you going to tell me where we are now,” Woojin whispered as the lift descended from the 17th floor.   
The doors opened and they stepped in. Woojin watched as Chan pressed the button for the top floor. The panel was hauntingly familiar. _What kind of business needed 5 floors below ground?_ The typeface of the G for ground drew his eye and he was hit by a memory of his own thumb pressing that button. He realised a second before Chan told him he'd been lead back to the lion's den.  
“Council headquarters.”

A wave of emotions rose in Woojin and blocked his throat. After what felt like an age he swallowed past it. “You work for the council?” he asked, absently identifying one of the emotions as heartbreak. He hadn’t even realised he’d got close enough to Chan to fall in love until he fell back out of it again. And clearly he hadn’t been that close in the first place.

That agent that let him go when he was arrested had warned that there would be people watching him. He’d never even considered that person to be Chan but it made perfect sense. All sorts of rogues must come into his shop- Chan was the ideal scout. And he had fallen for that dimpled smile in seconds, like a fool.   
“I work _with_ the council,” Chan stressed, panicking as he saw the pain in Woojin’s eyes.  
“You’re turning me in.” Woojin couldn’t stand to look at him but the damn shiny walls brought Chan into his line of sight wherever he looked.  
“I would _never.”_

The doors pinged open and the was an immaculately dressed woman waiting for them.  
“Right this way, sirs.” She bowed as she showed the way. Woojin couldn’t exactly turn around and go back down. He had a feeling Chan would stop him if he tried and with Chan drinking blood and him drinking wolfsbane there was no way he would win. He had no choice but to follow Chan deeper into the building.

“Channie!!” A man greeted as they entered a remarkably small office. “You’re looking very well.” He was a man, a human, clearly fighting the battle with age with more than was normally available for his kind. Woojin didn't want to know how a human had reached such a position of power in the mystic community in his short lifespan.

“You too, Hyung.” Chan replied, bowing. Woojin wasn’t going to bow while his body was still his to command. He stood by the door and focused on a stray paperclip to calm his raging thoughts.  
“Sit, Jinnie,” Chan whispered when Woojin was the only one left standing, back straight, all senses on high alert.  
Woojin set the paperclip on fire in his mind.  
“Oh, Channie. What have you got yourself into?” Jinyoung laughed. “Have you adopted another one without me knowing?”

The mention of adoption snapped Woojin's concentration in an instant. It wasn’t just him in this mess. The boy were in the same, if not more, danger. _Terra, were any of the kids safe or where there all essentially government property?_ Woojin imagined the bright carefree kids he’d laughed with that morning growing up to be the cold government agents he’d encountered in jail. He couldn’t bare the thought.

“This is Woojin,” Chan told Jinyoung. He hesitated, perhaps hoping for some reaction but when Woojin didn’t move he ploughed on. “I was hoping you could lessen the severity of his sentence if I vouch for him. It’ll kill him to keep obeying the parameters they set him.”  
“And what is your sentence, son?” Jinyoung asked Woojin.

“1 month mobilty restricted to Seoul with location reporting daily, no shifting.” Woojin replied woodenly. “For shifting in front of humans.”  
“It was stoners in the woods,” Chan added. “Woojin was starving. There's got to be some allowance for that.” 

 

“I see,” Jinyoung said, looking at Woojin with a calculating gaze. “Wolf too long, wolfsbane poisoning?”  
“Yes sir.” Woojin answered. Could they just get to the locking him up already. He was tired, physically and emotionally, and he’d had enough of their mind games.  
Jinyoung steepled his fingers. “You can shift at Chan’s home and other locations at his discretion until the month’s up. You don’t have to report in either- whoever gave that order just wanted to piss you off, your tag gives us plenty to go off if we need it.”

Of course they were tracking his tag. He wouldn't be surprised if all shifters were tracked constantly, regardless of their criminal record.  
“No thank you, sir. I will follow my original sentence. Thank you for your time.” Woojin bowed and got out of that room as quickly as he could. If they weren’t locking him up he wasn’t going to stick around for them to change their minds. Unfortunately Chan was faster than the lift.

“Woojin! Please let me explain!”  
Woojin stepped into the lift and stared resolutely at the doors as they closed again. Chan tugged at his arm and he shook him off.  
“I’m not the council,” Chan said. “I’m not. I wouldn’t have lied to you like that.”  
“You already did, Chan.” Woojin said, proud that his voice held steady. “Was I ever let go or did they just hand me off to you so I’d make less of a fuss?”  
“It was never like that, Jinnie,” Chan cried. "I was just trying to help."

The rest of his plea was lost as the door opened back in the lobby and Woojin beelined for the door. The spinning door gave him a precious few seconds advantage that Chan couldn’t use his vampire speed to regain in public. Woojin walked straight into the road and hailed the taxi speeding towards him. The driver was unfazed and stopped with the passenger door beside Woojin’s hip.  
“Where to?”  
“Away.” Woojin requested, turning his head from Chan’s desperate cry as the car sped off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still pretty SAD so I might write the next chapter from Chan's perspective just to, you know, add stab wounds to the stab wounds.
> 
> I feel like I could have done that 'reveal' a bit better so I might rewrite it at a later date. Let me know if it didn't have the punching effect I wanted and maybe I'll have another go


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> believe me i desperately want to skip straight to the fluff again but we've got a fair bit more angst to go. The next fic in this series needs to be cute i need a break from torturing them

Chan watched the car speed away with Woojin. It wouldn’t leave Seoul but Chan took the burden of that on his shoulders too. How could he have been so stupid as to bring Woojin to the council headquarters without warning him? He knew JYP was one of the better people in the system, always willing to help out as best he could within his restrictions, but Woojin wouldn’t know that. Chan had meant it as a nice surprise, not telling him incase he gave Woojin false hope.

Instead he had given Woojin false fear and the werewolf would be suffering alone because of Chan’s thoughtless actions. Chan wanted to follow him to make sure Woojin was safe. He could turn around and get Woojin’s tag coordinates in minutes from the council but he knew that was the wrong way to go about it. If he ever saw Woojin again it would have to be on Woojin’s own terms if Woojin was ever to trust him again. Chan hadn’t given him much reason too in the last hour but he hoped the days at the shop would at least seem genuine.

Shakely Chan sat on the curb by the bus stop and dialed Changbin.  
“Bin, I’ve ruined it. I’ve lost him.”  
 _“Oh, Hyung,”_ Changbin said sadly. “ _Explain from the beginning.”_

And so Chan did through hiccups. He boarded the bus home as it arrived, the driver waving him on with a sympathetic smile and waiting until Chan was seated as so not to launch him to the back of the bus on unsteady legs when he accelerated.

Changbin was not surprised by the turn of events which made Chan feel even worse. He offered Chan reassuring words all the way until Chan was home and collapsed into his arms.

“He’s all alone,” Chan whispered, guilt weighing him down as the kids immediately took him upstairs and bundled him in blankets and cuddles. “He wouldn’t take the leniency so he’ll keep taking the wolfsbane and there will be nobody to look after him. What if he dies?”  
“Woojin-hyung isn’t going to die,” Jisung said firmly. “We’ll fix this.”  
 _“How?_ ” Chan croaked. Woojin was too proud to accept help and certainly not from him after the stunt he pulled.  
“You forget that we were all stray kids once, Channie-hyung.” Changbin said. “We know what it’s like to be lost and alone.”

***

“Where’s Woojinnie-hyung?” was the first thing out of Jeongin’s mouth when he got home. He then registered Chan, pale and shaking in a pile of blankets with tear tracks down his face. _“Where_ is he?” Jeongin demanded.  
“Chan-hyung took him to see JYP,” Changbin explained. “Woojin-hyung thought Chan-hyung was a council spy and he ran.”  
Jeongin’s face darkened with fury. _“You took him where?”_  
Chan shrunk further into the blankets as Jeongin stalked towards him, unconsciously growing taller.   
Seungmin grabbed Jeongin’s arm to hold him back. “Innie, he didn’t mean it.”

Jeongin shook him off, tugged down his tie and ripped open the first few buttons of his school uniform. He grabbed the chain around his neck and pulled his tag over his head, brandishing it at Chan.  
“Do you _see_ this bullshit? Do you see it? At any point the council can find out exactly where I am. Just because I’m a shifter. We’re already second class citizens, denied basic privacy, but it’s alright,” Jeongin smiled sarcastically, really getting worked up now. “It’s alright because the council don’t actually _use_ the trackers unless you commit a crime.

“And now Woojin-hyung is in a new city, the capital, and he knows they’re going to be tracking him because he’s a new shifter in town and they don’t give a _shit_ about our rights. There’s _no_ shifter support for this situation but he meets a stranger who is kind and caring and lets him into his family and helps him readjust.   
“And then,” Jeongin’s voice is a low growl. “You take him right into the middle of the council? When he was already struggling to repress his shifts in a safe environment? Are you fucking _insane?!”_ Jeongin threw his tag in Chan’s face and Chan didn’t flinch away. 

He deserved this. Terra, even without the arrest it was an awful thing to do. How could he not have realised after looking after Jeongin so long? Jeongin had been so wary of the council and even of Chan when he first moved. He wouldn’t shift ever if someone else was there. It had taken a long time to coax Jeongin into trusting them enough to shift in front of them and even still he mostly stuck to his fox form. Woojin had trusted him so easily and Chan had broken that trust completely.

Jeongin turned around and pushed past Seungmin and Hyunjin to storm out of the apartment.   
“Innie, where go?” Felix called worriedly, running halfway down the stairs after him.  
“To find my Hyung!”  
“Your tag!” Hyunjin yelled after him. Hyunjin was relatively new to the registered shifter scene but he had been told repeatedly to never go somewhere without your tag.  
“That’s Chan’s problem!” Jeongin replied and slammed the door, ending the conversation.

“If he gets caught it’s on me,” Chan sighed when Hyunjin turned back to him with concern. “I’m his guardian. A shitty guardian but still.”  
“Do you think he’ll be ok?” Seungmin asked. “What if it gets dark?”  
“We promised Innie,” Hyunin told Seungmin with a meaningful look.  
“Yeah,” Seungmin hesitated then threw his school bag on the floor. “We’ll be back later,” he informed their Hyungs. It was aimed more at Changbin as Chan had emotionally disengaged from the situation.

“Stay safe,” Changbin pulled Hyunjin’s hat more firmly over his ears even though he had to stand on his toes to do so. “Call if anything happens and if you can’t find Innie by 8, come home.”  
“I’m going too,” Jisung decided, jamming his feet into trainers. “Maybe my magic can help.”  
“I-” Felix started, fidgeting on the spot.  
“You’re staying with me,” Chanbin said. “I’ll need your help here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Innie went OFF
> 
> I'm not a minority so I don't know how well im portraying it with the shifters. if you have any insight or feedback id be very grateful


	19. Chapter 19

Woojin was lucky to have his wallet on him when he left 3RACHA that afternoon. He had more stuff there- clothes mostly- that he’d bought the other day but he wasn’t going back for them. He’d gone with nothing but the tag around his neck for years before so the lack of a home didn’t concern him. There was a niggling in the back of his head though that he couldn’t shake no matter how fast he walked. 

_You abandoned your pack,_ the niggling said. _You left those pups in danger._

They weren’t his pack. They weren’t his pups. They weren’t his concern.

 

Woojin ducked into a busy restaurant and tried not to think about it. Thinking about Chan hurt no matter how angry he tried to be about it. He had sounded genuinely heartbroken when he had begged Woojin to stay and pleaded that he wasn’t a council spy but nobody got access to the top bosses in the council without being a member. Woojin didn’t know what to believe anymore.

He ordered too much food and tried not to think about it. The kids had seemed happy. From what he understood they were all under Chan’s guardianship which suggested they were without parents in some way. Even if Chan was reporting their abilities to the council at least they were safe. Chan gave them space to learn about their species and practice their skills which was more than a lot of mystic kids got these days. He missed them already- especially Jeongin who had been _so_ excited to have an older shifter around and Woojin wouldn’t even have a chance to say goodbye. 

Woojin finished his meal without really tasting it and stepped back out onto the street. The wind was icy and he turned up the collar of his jacket to ward it off. The hair on the back of his neck rose but it was useless compared to the thick pelt of his wolf form. The jacket would have to do until the month was up. 

Before heading to the hostel for the night Woojin made one last stop. The bank was shut but the ATMs outside were still lit and Woojin hoped they were equipped to register him like the receptionist had told Chan. Luna, Chan was everywhere in this ugly city. 

Woojin tried to look inconspicuous as he approached the ATMs. Just a normal guy checking his balance. Definitely no fingerprint scanner or magic key around his neck. There didn’t seem to be anyone around at this time anyway, just a stray cat curled up under the awnings. The concrete must be nearly freezing and the wind still blew through it’s fur. Surely the cat had better places to be like a discarded box in an alleyway or a nook under a bridge.

The ATM worked much as the one inside did and registered him without difficulty. He checked his balance as well since he now had to find more permanent accommodation. There was enough for a bed in the shared room of the hostel for the rest of the month but food would be tight. He’d have to start searching for a job in the morning. It was always harder in a big city to get a job. No permanent address, no references, no suit. Farmers didn’t care about any of that as long as you could do an honest day’s work. 

Before he left he spared a glance to the cat. Perhaps he could sneak it into the hostel with him. It was supposed to be nearly freezing tonight and it didn’t look big enough to tough out the harsh conditions. Except it’s ears… it’s ears were much bigger than the rest of it’s face.

“Innie?” Woojin called out, hoping against everything that he’d been mistaken. The cat’s head perked up and now Woojin could see those expressive eyes in the body of a desert fox. “Innie what are you doing here?” Woojin asked. He sat on the concrete step and pulled the tiny animal into his lap, zipping his jacket around him. Jeongin shivered as he wormed his way closed to Woojin’s belly. His paws were completely cold and Woojin could feel the heat leaching out of him through his jeans. He took Jeongin’s front paws in his hands and rubbed them gently to get the blood circulating again.

“I hate Chan-hyung,” Jeongin growled weakly. “He said he would always protect us but he didn’t protect you. He loves you- why would he not keep you safe too?”

Woojin didn’t know what to say to that. It wasn’t his place to dismantle the trust Jeongin had in Chan. Chan was a far better guardian to Jeongin than Woojin could ever be. But at the same time, Jeongin’s question resonated with the questions in Woojin’s own head. Why didn’t Chan keep him safe?

“Lots of people think shifters are dangerous, Innie,” Woojin said. “We’re no more dangerous than the next person but people still think it. The council don’t want unstable wolves running around. Chan reported me because I was unstable. It’s what people are supposed to do.”

“But Hyunjin’s unstable!” Jeongin said angrily. “And Jisung makes things explode, and Felix is very clearly not a human! Chan-hyung knows exactly what the council thinks of people like us. How could he be so stupid to take you there?  
“Shh, shh.” Woojin petted Jeongin until he relaxed. “I’m an adult, Innie. I’ll be ok. Now, are you ready to go home?”

Woojin could just see himself charged with kidnapping on top of everything.

“I’m not going home without you,” Jeongin sulked, pressing his cold nose into Woojin’s side.  
“I’m not going back, Innie,” Woojin said firmly. “Chan will turn me in again.”  
“He wouldn’t.” Jeongin’s head popped out of Woojin’s jacket at a tilt. “Channie-hyung hates the council’s laws. That’s why we’re with him in the first place.”

 

That didn’t make sense. 

“What do you mean, Innie?”

 

***

They got the underground back. Woojin paid his fare and Jeongin sat in his jacket like premature beer belly. Not that it could really be considered premature as Woojin was 219 years old but the other passengers didn’t know that.

Hyunjin answered the door and gaped at Woojin long enough that he got his jacket unzipped and Jeongin jumped out. “Innie!” Hyunjin gasped. “We looked everywhere for you!”

Jeongin ignored him and ran past him into the apartment.

“Hyung, you came back.” Hyunjin said still standing awkwardly in the door.   
“For Innie.” Woojin replied. He made no move to enter the shop. He could turn around now and walk away, never see them again. Go back to his nomad life in a few short weeks.The big city had never really been for him and Jeongin had assured him that they were as safe as they could be with Chan.

Woojin looked up as Jeongin came running back down the stairs, yipping loudly. Chan was following him, bewildered. He looked a mess- face puffy and tracked with tears, the sleeve of his hoodie ripped apart from where he had tugged at it.

“Woojin I’m so sorry,” Chan said, his voice hoarse. “Will you let me explain?”  
Jeongin whined desperately at their feet and Hyunjin picked him up, shuffling back out of the way.   
“Hyung,” Jeongin whined again as the silence stretched.  
“Ok, Innie,” Woojin said quietly. “I’ll listen, Chan. Then I’ll make a decision.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooh if you thought the sad would be over you are WRONG im stretching this shit out painfully


	20. Chapter 20

Chan led him to the storage room behind the shop and turned on a heater for Woojin’s benefit. Woojin had been lying on this floor just that morning but it felt like a lifetime ago. Chan’s stock order still wasn’t completed but he shoved it to the side along with a pile of books and sat down. He was clearly exhausted but still held his body full of tension and his face in a careful mask. 

From his smell Woojin could tell Chan hadn’t drunk any more blood, though by this time of night he should have, and he was strung tight like a wire about to snap. Chan was absolutely no threat to him in this condition and it was one of the reasons Woojin had agreed to come inside. 

“Do you want the long story or the short story?” Chan asked, his leg bouncing under the table.  
“I’d like the whole story, Chan,” Woojin said shortly. “Is that too much to ask?”  
“No.” Chan scrubbed the heels of his hands over his eyes. “No. You deserve to know everything I just didn’t know how long you wanted to be here for. It starts when I was turned, so 200 years ago more or less.”  
“You’ve worked for the council that long, huh?” Woojin said bitterly. “That explains why you could demand a meeting with the top boss.”  
“Woojin, please.”  
“Fine. I’m listening.” He owed Jeongin that much.

“I’m Australian.” Chan said. A startling statement to start with. “October 3rd, 1797, Sydney, Australia. The british hadn’t even properly invaded yet but there was a little asian baby accidentally born on the wrong continent.”

Woojin could imagine that Chan would be a very cute baby. He pushed the thought away and tried to stay angry at him. 

“I stuck out there- the only kid that looked like I did but my parents didn’t want to risk the return journey with me so young so I grew up swimming and surfing at the beach with the locals.” Chan smiled slightly at the memory before continuing. “I was bitten by a british vampire when I was 21. 

“There were more foreigners then but most of them were white. I still stood out and now I wasn’t aging. I left my parents before they could notice and joined the coven that bit me but after a while they had to move on. They wouldn’t take me with them. An asian boy in Australia that didn’t age -it was already attracting too much attention. So I got on a boat to Korea.”

“That’s when I stopped drinking blood,” Chan added as a side-note. “There was no way I could get enough for the crossing and I hated being a vampire. I had to leave my home, my family, my country because of it. Do you know that vampires can’t drown?” Chan asked and Woojin’s heart broke a little more. “I really tried. I swam as far out as I could and then down but nothing happened. Eventually I was so hungry I caught a fish to drink and went back to land.”

Chan shook his head of the memory and continued. “So. I got to Korea. I could speak Korean a bit but not well and I thought I was doing well to blend in but I guess I wasn’t. Jinyoung-hyung- the man we met- he found me and took me into the council. I was in a kind of school, I guess. I shared a dorm with other recruits and had classes all day about the different species. It was biased for sure but I didn’t know that at the time.”

“Against shifters?” Woojin guessed. He’d been worried that the kids would be recruited to the council but he hadn’t even considered that Chan had been. If Jeongin was to be believed Chan had left that behind so Woojin tried not to make assumptions yet. He’d already done that once today and it had got them nowhere. 

“Against shifters, against Fae, against basically everything that wasn’t a vampire, witch or siren. I realised it wasn’t right almost as soon as I was out on patrol. There was one wolf pack that kept getting into trouble but as far as I could see they were doing nothing wrong. The coven next door was getting away with killing all sorts of people and dumping their bodies in the river. It wasn’t fair. I went to Jinyoung-hyung and told him and he laughed it off. He said the wolves had to be kept in check so they didn’t get any ideas.”

“Ideas to overthrow the dictatorship,” Woojin growled. “Pretty good idea to me.”  
“One day, Woojinnie,” Chan smiled. “I’ll help you when it comes.”

 

“Anyway, I didn’t want to do it anymore,” Chan continued. “But I could help people more by patrolling and letting them off than by quitting. They’d just send some other brainwashed kid in my place. I started running errands for people on my patrols. Passing messages and supplies, telling people when the coast was clear, stuff like that.”

“Classic Channie,” Woojin snorted. Of course Chan knew a council boss. Chan knew everyone because the man could not help making friends with everyone he met.”You befriended the whole neighbourhood, didn’t you? How were you not caught?”  
_“Officially,_ my neighbourhood had the lowest crime rate in the city,” Chan said proudly.  
“This is not the kind of double agent I thought you were,” Woojin admitted. He was still slightly suspicious. Council agents would be trained to lie perfectly and Chan readily admitted to being one. But also he desperately wanted Chan’s story to be true. 

Woojin had seen with his own eyes how Chan was kind and friendly with strangers on the street, how he loved all the kids regardless of their background and gave them the tools to learn for themselves. Woojin didn’t think he’d ever heard of a council agent learning Fae and yet Chan would chat to Felix in his native language whenever the younger boy wanted. He let Jisung experiment with almost whatever magic he wanted right there in his house and encouraged Jeongin to bounce around in whatever form he felt like. It went directly against what the council preached.

“So when did you stop?” Woojin asked. “You don’t still do patrols, do you?”  
“No I quit all that,” Chan said. “It was just a few years ago, when I met Sungie. “He’d made an explosion, not one I could hide, and so I had to take him in. He was so so scared. He didn’t even know he was a witch until I told him, let alone about the mystic community. I bargained with Jinyoung-hyung to let me look after him instead of putting him in the system I was put in.

“I bought the shop, bought a tonne of stuff I knew mystics in my neighbourhood needed, bought books for Jisungie to read, and quit my job.” Chan smiled. “Jisungie was the best thing to ever happen to me. After that I offered Changbin a place to stay and did the same thing- took him to Jinyoung-hyung to get him legally under my guardianship, bought a lot of books and a lot gems for him to work on, rebranded the shop. I’ve done the same with all the kids.”

 

“You took me to Jinyoung to make me your family?” Woojin asked quietly. “Why? I’ve only been here two days?”  
“You needed help,” Chan said simply. “I could help you. I was so scared you were going to die, Woojin. I’m still scared. And I thought that if I could just get you permission to shift it would be ok. I didn’t know if Jinyoung-hyung would allow it so I didn’t want to get your hopes up and I hid it from you. 

Chan hung his head. “I understand if you can’t forgive me. Innie made it _very_ clear just how much I fucked up. But you can shift here for the rest of the month regardless. The amendment to your sentence still stands.” Chan gestured to the room. “This should be big enough, right? You can just walk into the shop whenever and come straight back here and shift for as long as you want and walk back out again. If you let someone know I can leave while you’re here as well-”  
“Chan.” Woojin cut him off. “I forgive you. I don’t trust you anymore- you’ll have to win that back- but I forgive you.”  
Tears welled in Chan’s eyes. “Can I hug you?” he asked.

Woojin opened his arms and Chan all but fell into them. He was still tense and Woojin lifted Chan into his lap and stroked up and down his back in an attempt to get the vampire to relax.  
“Relax, Channie,” Woojin said. “As long as you don’t take me to the council I’m not going away again. It’s ok.”  
“If I relax I’ll bite you,” Chan admitted grumpily, his head turned away from Woojin’s neck. “The stupid bloodlust is back.”  
“I wonder how we could fix that?” Woojin said dryly, standing up with Chan in his arms. Chan dropped his legs to the floor but didn’t give up his hug. Woojin didn’t mind.  
“I don’t want to drink the blood in the fridge,” Chan said petulantly.  
“I don’t want the boy I like to take me to the place I was cruelly imprisoned with no prior warning but we can’t all have the things we want.” Woojin replied.

“You’re never going to let this go, are you?” Chan said.  
“Never,” Woojin replied and kissed Chan’s hair before pulling him towards the stairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is the end of this story. Woojin has been adopted- whoop whoop!!! woochan is back together- whoop whoop!
> 
> Ill write at least one epilogue chapter because i want to bring the squad back together


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dont say im not good to you

Woojin hesitated at the top of the stairs but the kids weren’t even paying attention. They appeared to be having an argument. About what, Woojin couldn’t work out.

“If I _wanted_ to eat toothpaste, I’d just eat toothpaste,” Jisung was saying.  
“It’s not toothpaste, it’s a herb,” Seungmin argued back.   
“That tastes like toothpaste,” Changbin added.  
“Toothpaste tastes like mint, mint doesn’t taste like toothpaste,” Seungmin said pedantically. 

_Ah, so that’s what the argument was about._

“Are you warm enough now?” Woojin asked Jeongin quietly. The boy was bundled in a blanket and held securely on Felix’s knee who was watching the argument like a tennis match.  
“Felix-hyung made me mint hot chocolate,” Jeongin said happily, showing his mug to Woojin. “Are you coming back now or did Channie-hyung ruin everything?”  
“I didn’t ruin _everything,”_ Chan muttered, still hiding behind Woojin’s back. 

“I forgave him, Innie,” Woojin said. The others had stopped arguing and were watching in anticipation. Woojin wasn’t sure he’d actually been in a room with all six kids before and he felt slightly intimidated by their intense stares.   
“I didn’t,” Jeongin said. “You can share my bed tonight. Channie-hyung doesn’t deserve you.”

Chan groaned and let his head fall to thump against Woojin’s back. “I said I was sorry, Innie. What else can I do?”  
“Take me to the zoo,” Jeongin said smugly. “The back entrance.”

Chan stepped around Woojin to see Jeongin better and Woojin rested his hand on Chan’s hip naturally. Chan didn’t notice as he faced his youngest but Jisung raised his eyebrows at Woojin. Woojin didn’t know why he’d done it either. 

On one hand, Chan was new to Woojin’s life and he had betrayed his trust on a massive scale. Woojin would be well within his rights to cut Chan off completely. But on the other hand, Chan just fit. Like a part of his life Woojin hadn’t even realised was missing. Perhaps it was the pack dynamic of Chan’s family or perhaps it was something intrinsic to Chan himself that just put Woojin at ease. Chan was also an entire mess of a person right now, bordering on as bad a Woojin, and if Woojin didn’t get him to drink and sleep he wasn’t sure who would. 

“Innie, you’re still too young to be going to the zoo,” Chan was saying, too exhausted to really argue his point. And then the strangest thing happened. “Woojinnie, back me up.”  
Jeongin would listen to Woojin. Woojin knew that and Chan knew that too.   
_Well, if I’m going to be staying_ , Woojin thought. _I might as well become a Dad now._

“What forms do you have, Innie?” Woojin asked.  
“The fox, and a dog and a raccoon and a hare and an armadillo.” Jeongin listed them off proudly.   
“So the biggest form you have is the dog?” Woojin guessed. Chan had turned to look at him, trying to gauge if Woojin was helping him or not with this line of questioning. Woojin squeezed his waist. Chan could try trusting someone for once.

“Yeah,” Jeongin said. “I think it’s a labrador? From the dog cafe in town.”  
“Very nice dog,” Felix added, nuzzling at Jeongin’s hair.  
“And what form do you want to go to the zoo for?” Woojin asked. 

If Jeongin wanted to go in the back entrance he was looking for a new form. It was dangerous for young shifters to collect forms when they weren’t ready for it and the zoo wasn’t the best place to start. It was like a candy shop for a shifter and Jeongin could easily injure himself aiming for something too big.

“A wolf.” Jeongin grinned.  
“This is your fault,” Chan muttered to Woojin and Woojin pinched him. There were at least four different ways this situation was Chan’s fault, starting with him inviting Woojin upstairs for tea in the first place.  
“That’s so coooool” Jisung called. “You should do a tiger.”  
“Try octopus again,” Hyunjin said.  
“Wings!!” Felix said excitedly. “Fly with Lixie.”

“I think a wolf is too far right now, Innie.” Woojin burst their bubbles. “Being a wolf in the city is hard on your senses and its a much bigger form than you’ve tried yet.”  
“I could do it!” Jeongin argued. “It’s like a dog but bigger.”  
Woojin held back a laugh. That was an understatement. “Have you ever seen a wolf, Innie?”  
“Yeah,” Jeongin retorted. He was lying.

Woojin turned to Chan, silently asking him a question. Chan nodded.   
“Are you sure,” Woojin asked quietly.  
“I promise,” Chan murmured, holding Woojin’s gaze. “You’re safe here.”

Jisung gagged. “Now we have two Dads,” he complained loudly. “Stop talking- that’s cheating!”  
Woojin ignored him. “I won’t be back tonight,” Woojin warned Chan.  
“Come back whenever you’re ready,” Chan smiled.  
“Where’s Woojin-hyung going?” Changbin said worriedly. “I thought you were staying here?”  
Woojin ignored him too. He’d find out soon enough.

“Are you _sure_ you know how big a wolf is, Innie?” Woojin asked teasingly as he took off his jacket.  
“Yeah, they’re like this big.” Jeongin held his hand about level with that table. He hadn’t worked out what was going on. Seungmin, however, clearly had a pretty good idea and he was backing his seat away from the table and clutching at Hyunjin’s arm. 

Woojin took off his jumper and tshirt together. He didn’t want to be standing around naked longer than he had to be and it was painfully obvious without his shirt that he had been struggling to find food over winter. It was not a pretty sight.  
“About this big, you say?” Woojin confirmed, holding out his hand as he toed off his socks.  
Jeongin nodded mutely, staring at Woojin’s chest. It made him uncomfortable and he nudged Chan to one side before closing his eyes and taking a deep breathe.

Shifting back to a wolf was as easy as stepping into a pool of water but Woojin fought to control it so he had hands just long enough to take his trousers and underwear off before he ripped them. It was a skill he and his friends had perfected as teenagers and he was a little rusty now but it was largely a smooth operation.

Woojin pushed off the floor with his front paws so he was sitting up with his front legs on the table and made eye contact with Jeongin. Even without his hind legs straightened he was as tall as Chan. Jisung screamed and fell off his chair and Changbin swore, flinching back.   
Seungmin grinned. “That’s _awesome.”_

“You think you can handle that?” Woojin asked Jeongin. To the others it was little more than a grunt but Woojin’s head was now twice as big and the challenge was clear.  
“Maybe not,” Jeongin admitted.  
Woojin huffed out a breathe and it ruffled Jeongin’s hair across the table.

“Can I touch you?” Hyunjin asked, holding out a hand tentatively. He smelled faintly of the sea and very strongly of the tteokbokki he’d eaten for dinner.  
Woojin licked Hyunjin’s hand and halfway up his arm. The boy giggled and reached out to gently pat the fur between his eyes. Woojin loved to be petted in his wolf form and it had been a very long time since anybody had been close enough to try. He nudged Hyunjin’s hand back until _finally_ Hyunjin found the spot at the base of his ears. It was bliss.

“Hey!” No drooling on the table, puppy!” Chan warned him, giving Woojin a shove. It did nothing to move him but Woojin took the hint and brought his paws back to the floor. He went straight back to Hyunjin and put his head in his lap. The boys quickly gathered around in awe.

Seungmin gasped as his hand sank fully into Woojin fur. “Hyung, where is your body?”  
"He's in there," Chan laughed. “Wolves have thick fur to keep warm."  
"I like wolves," Felix said, running his hand along Woojin pelt. "Fluffy fluffy."  
Woojin licked his chin in thanks and Felix squealed happily. 

Jeongin crouched down until his nose was nearly touching Woojin's. "I'm going to get a wolf form one day," he promised, eyebrows furrowed.  
Woojin licked him too, slobbery and gross.  
"When you're older," he said. He could just imagine Jeongin's wolf- lithe and full of energy. It would be difficult to keep up with him if they ever went running in the woods.

"Right kids, how about we move this to the living room?" Chan suggested. "Woojin isn't a pet."  
"Shut up, they can pet me as much as they like." Woojin batted Chan with his tail. Chan misunderstood and scratched the base of Woojin's tail before leading the way to the living room.

Jeongin laughed at them. "Channie-hyung, Woojin-hyung _wants_ pats and you just left him!" Jeongin said gleefully.   
Woojin snapped his jaw at Jeongin for betraying him but the boy only laughed more.  
"Come get your pats in the living room then," Chan called back. "It's much more comfortable."

Woojin couldn't move without bowling one of the boys over. Seungmin was the most in his way, completely entranced by his fur, sticking his hands in as deep as they could go before pulling them back and doing it again.

Woojin nudged Seungmin with his head and the boy stumbled into his side. Woojin tried again.   
"Hyung wants you to get on," Jeongin explained when Seungmin misunderstood a third time.  
"Get...on?"

Woojin huffed and nudged Seungmin's butt up with his snout. Seungmin finally climbed on and gasped at the sensation. Woojin shifted his weight slightly and Seungmin lay down, clasping his arms around Woojin's neck. Perfect. 

"You're so fluffy, Woojinnie-hyung," Seungmin murmured as he rested his head on Woojin's back. "I'm going to sink and never get back out again." He sounded relaxed to the point of sleep and Woojin was careful as he walked through to the living room not to disturb the boy.

Chan smiled as he saw them, Woojin escorted on all sides. Woojin was careful to lie down so Seungmin wasn't tipped off.  
"So fluffy," the boy commented again and Felix echoed him, coming to sit by Woojin's head and run his hands through his scruff.

The non-Fae boys were a bit more hesitant to invade Woojin's personal space but they were slowly won over by curiosity from watching the others. After a while Woojin rolled onto his side, exposing his softest fur and pushed Jeongin against his chest.

"I'm fine," Jeongin complained, trying to wriggle his way out. There was no hope against a stubborn wolf. "Let me up."  
"What's the matter," Chan asked. He had been watching from afar with a wistful smile as his kids played. 

Woojin was kind of glad Chan wasn't coming closer. They had made up but Woojin needed more time as a human with Chan to work out his complex emotions before he could make sense of them as a wolf.

"He thinks I'm too cold," Jeongin huffed, trying and failing to get Woojin's paw off of him. "But I'm _fine,_ Hyung. I had hot chocolate and a blanket."  
Chan laughed but didn't help him. "Woojinnie has every right to be worried. You were out in the cold for a long time."  
"But I'm _fine,"_ Jeongin growled, thrashing uselessly.

Jeongin huffed in annoyance and then tensed ever so slightly, the only warning Woojin needed.

Jeongin was fast, Woojin would give him that. Even knowing Jeongin was about to shift he still failed to hold the boy down. Jeongin slipped out of his clothes and under Woojin's paw in seconds, jumping behind Changbin, one fluffy ear still visible.

"Great, there goes our translation," Jisung said. He had been leaning against Woojin's back and rolled over him headfirst to squint as he tried to look Woojin in both eyes at the same time. "Blink once for yes, twice for no, Hyung."  
Woojin licked him.

"That wasn't one of the options!" Jisung wailed.  
"You didn't ask a question, dumbass," Hyunjin pointed out. He was doing a brilliant job as Woojin's new ear scratcher. "And you don't need words. Woojinnie-hyung is just like Innie but bigger and cuddlier. Right, Hyung?"

Woojin bowled him over with a headbutt and rested his head on Hyunjin's chest. Hyunjin giggled and hugged Woojin, rubbing their foreheads together. This is what Woojin had been missing for years- a pack. He felt warm and relaxed and happy.

“InMinJin,” Chan interrupted the cuddle pile.  
“Noooo,” Hyunjin whined and Seungmin clung tight to Woojin’s fur.  
“Come on,” Chan encouraged them. “Bed time.”  
“‘M sleepin’ here,” Seungmin mumbled.  
“Woojinnie isn’t sleeping on the floor and neither are you,” Chan said firmly. “Go get ready for bed.”

Woojin let Hyunjin up and nudged him to sitting before rolling to dislodge Seungmin. Jeongin had already scampered out of the room. Woojin stood to herd the other two towards their bedrooms which didn’t work too well as Seungmin took that to mean he was getting another carry. Woojin dropped him off at his door and Seungmin only walked into the door once before he managed to turn the handle and go inside. 

Jeongin, in human form, came out of his room that he shared with Hyunjin, dressed in thick fleece pyjamas.  
“You’ll sleep with me, Hyungie?” he asked, skipping towards the bathroom.  
“I’ll sleep on your floor,” Woojin compromised. “I don’t want to break your bed.”  
Jeongin frowned. “I’ll get you the extra duvet then.”

He went to brush his teeth and Woojin didn’t fit in the bathroom so he returned to the living room to carry out his last task for the night. Chan was still sat a little way away from the others, a frown etched on his face. They looked up as Woojin entered and Felix opened his arms but Woojin went to Chan and gently tugged on his hoodie.  
“You need me?” Chan asked and stood up. Woojin tugged him again and Chan followed him. Woojin took him to the shut door that lead away from the bedrooms into the dining room. 

“Where are we going, Jinnie?” Chan asked quietly but opened the door and followed. Woojin crossed the dining room too, passing the stairs and into the kitchen. He nosed the fridge and looked to Chan meaningfully.   
“You’re hungry?” Chan guessed. “Did you not eat?”  
Woojin shook his head and pointed his head to Chan, baring his teeth briefly.  
“I’m hungry?” Chan asked, confused. “Oh! Blood.”

 _Yes, you idiot,_ Woojin thought and hoped his judgement showed in his face.  
“Blood is gross,” Chan commented but took it out the fridge and poured himself a glass. “Happy?” he asked, holding up the glass for Woojin to see the volume. It was slightly less than Woojin would have poured, still too little for an adult vampire, but baby steps. Woojin nodded and Chan threw it back, gagging almost immediately. 

“Fucking hell, that was awful.” Chan coughed after he had forced the blood down. He chased it with a glass of water. “Don’t let me drink it cold again,” he told Woojin. “I nearly died again.”  
Woojin licked his hand.  
“Is that ‘well done for not dying’,” Chan asked, stroking Woojin between the eyes. “I could say the same to you. I’m glad you trust me enough to shift here.”  
Woojin tilted his head.  
“Still think I’m a government spy?” Chan smiled sadly. “Fair enough. Then I’m sorry it’s bad enough that you decided to shift despite that. Do you at least feel better?”

Woojin pressed his chest against Chan’s hand.  
“Yeah, your heartbeat is good now.” Chan scratched the fur on his chest. “Much slower than it was as a human but I’m guessing that’s pretty normal. Are you comfortable sleeping in the house? You could go outside if you like or I could make the riverside ‘designated shifting zone’ by Jinyoung-hyung’s rules?”

Chan was far too accommodating but it was minus degrees outside. No way was Woojin going outside when he had a nice soft warm duvet in Jeongin’s room. As he thought that Jeongin poked his head around the door.  
“Ah, I found you.” He smiled. “Are you coming to bed now, Woojinnie-hyung, or later?”  
“You’re sleeping in Innie’s room?” Chan asked, a slight whine in his tone.  
“Yes,” Jeongin said proudly. “Shifters only.”  
“I’m not tired yet, Innie,” Woojin said. “I’ll come in later, when you’re asleep.” 

Thoughts slipped away easier in wolf form and Woojin wouldn’t be kept up tonight with worry but at the same time he wouldn’t sleep without resolving things with Chan first. He imagined Chan felt much the same way considering how difficult it was to get him to sleep on a normal night.

Jeongin accepted his answer and hugged him tightly before glaring playfully at Chan.  
“Come on, Innie,” Chan said, holding out his arms. “Let me hug you or I’ll cry.”  
Jeongin went grudgingly but hugged Chan tightly for a good few seconds. “Woojinnie-hyung is too nice for you,” he told Chan.  
Chan gasped in exaggerated hurt. “I know that, but I’m your Dad- you’re supposed to be on my side.”  
“Shifter solidarity,” Jeongin grinned impishly.

“I’m on Chan’s side,” Woojin huffed and Jeongin whirled around to face him.  
“What happened to shifter solidarity?” Jeongin said, affronted.   
“He’s very cute and caring, even as a council spy,” Woojin pointed out. “Much nicer than I am.”  
“I told you he wasn’t a spy-” Jeongin cut himself off and threw his hands in the air. “You know what? Go be idiots together- I’m going to bed.” With that, Jeongin stormed out of the room.

“What did you tell him?” Chan asked, amused. He bent over to be eye level with Woojin. “What did Innie mean by ‘idiots together’, huh?”  
Woojin knew he should really wait to be human and have a real adult conversation to prevent mixed signals but in that moment wolf instinct won over and he licked Chan’s mouth. And his chin and his nose. Aim wasn’t that high on a wolf’s priorities.

Chan laughed and pushed Woojin’s snout away slightly. “I’m getting kisses too now?” he asked. “How nice of you to share.”  
Woojin licked him again, this time getting his neck and his ear. It unbalance Chan who fell over, still laughing.  
“Wanna go for a walk tomorrow when you’re human and talk about it?” Chan suggested. He’d rolled onto his back and Woojin stood over him. Chan had an expression of pure adoration Woojin didn’t fully understand. 

Chan reached his hands up and sunk his fingers into the fur at Woojin’s neck. “I don’t deserve a man like you but I’d really like it if you stayed with us. Or if you could come visit if you go off again after this month. You’re always welcome here, Woojin.”

Woojin couldn’t imagine really leaving again once his month was up. If anything, hearing that Chan would be ok with him leaving for periods of time made him more inclined to stay. If they were his pups, they were his pups and he was going to look after them. Especially considering self-preservation was not a life skill Chan seemed capable of teaching his kids.

Woojin had lowered his head to lick Chan just one more time when a boy walked through the door.  
“Schist faults!” Changbin swore and backed up immediately. “I thought you two had fallen out! Crack a diamond, I’m not- Nope.” he turned swiftly and left the room, muttering more odd swears under his breath.

“Shall we continue this tomorrow?” Chan asked cheekily, not embarrassed in the slightest.  
Woojin nipped lightly at his jaw. If Chan could stop flirting for two seconds perhaps Woojin would be able to think straight and make human decisions.  
“Sorry, sorry,” Chan laughed. “I’ll stop.” He sat up and used Woojin too pull him upright. “Why don’t you go get comfortable in Innie’s room and I’ll go get you some clothes for the morning. You must be tired from today.”  
Woojin couldn’t resist one more lick of Chan’s hand before he left, carefully winding his way around the furniture to Jeongin and Hyunjin’s room.

The room was dark but the boys were still awake and they looked up as Woojin entered.  
“Hi Hyung,” Hyunjin whispered, putting a hand out of his covers to trail along Woojin’s side as he passed.  
Woojin turned around on the duvet once and settled with his head facing the door.

“Night night, Woojinnie-hyung,” Jeongin whispered.  
“Night.” Woojin replied. “Sleep now, Innie.”

A minute later the door cracked open and Chan peeked around it, dropping a pile of clothes just inside the doorway.  
“Goodnight boys,” he whispered and shut the door with one last secret smile to Woojin. 

Woojin could hear very clearly the sounds from the street and talking from the living room. Water in the pipes and the wind outside. He kept track of these noises should any of them become a sign of danger but focused on Jeongin’s shallow breathing and the smell of the detergent all the boys shared as he shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im going to have to write about this stupid walk now arent i?


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its lets bully hyunjin day
> 
> and his tentacles dont even appear which, believe me, makes me much sadder than you

Woojin woke with the sun, and with Hyunjin's alarm literally screaming at him. Neither had any effect on Hyunjin who slept peacefully on. Woojin's irritated growl did nothing to wake him either.

"That won't wake him," Jeongin told him, stepping over Woojin to turn off the alarm. "Very little will." He leant over Hyunjin and shook his shoulders. Hyunjin's head flopped like a ragdoll. "HYUNJIN!"   
One of Hyunjin's eyes half opened and then shut again.   
"No!" Jeongin slapped Hyunjin's face. "Do not go back to sleep."

"Does this happen a lot?" Woojin asked.  
"Every day," Jeongin gave a resigned sigh. "He's opened one eye already so today's a good day."  
Hyunjin was already snoring again, his head uncomfortably tilted down to his chest as Jeongin held him sitting upright.

“Hyunjin school wake up school Hyunjin Hyunjin Hyunjin school you’ve got school wake up breakfast school-” Jeongin gave a constant stream of words as he gently shook the merboy though neither seemed to have much effect. After a minute, Jeongin gave up and laid Hyunjin back down without his duvet and skipped over Woojin to get himself ready.  
“Is he really not going to wake up?” Woojin asked in concern. Hyunjin mumbled something into his pillow as he turned onto his front in seek of warmth.  
“I’ll try again once I’m dressed,” Jeongin said, throwing various bright yellow pieces of clothing onto his bed. “You’re welcome to have a go.”

Woojin hovered over Hyunjin and studied the sleeping boy. Wolves were always pretty alert and he’d only ever had to nudge any of his family and they’d wake. Hyunjin would clearly take more than that.  
Woojin licked his ear.  
Hyunjin didn’t even flinch.

“I think he’s dead,” Woojin told Jeongin.   
“It would make my life easier,” Jeongin joked. He was now dressed in his yellow ensemble though his hair still stuck up oddly at one side where he’d slept on it. “Watch and learn, Hyung,” Jeongin said with a sly smile. 

He shoved Hyunjin harshly to turn him onto his back and picked up a glass of water from Hyunjin’s bedside table. With his free hand he opened Hyunjin’s mouth with his thumb and poured the water from a height. It splashed across Hyunjin’s face as Jeongin’s aim faltered slightly and droplets caught the morning light as they decorated his skin.

For half a second nothing happened and Woojin was worried Jeongin had finally snapped and decided to end his roommate. Then Hyunjin’s throat moved and he swallowed the water. His eyes flew open and he coughed, sitting up and shaking his head.   
“Did you have to, Innie?” Hyunjin croaked, reaching for the second glass full of water Jeongin now held out.   
“The shaking didn’t work today.” Jeongin shrugged. “Hyung even tried licking your ear. Get up on your alarm next time.”

“It doesn’t work,” Hyunjin grumbled, falling out of bed.  
“He’s mer- can’t drown,” Jeongin told Woojin happily as he noticed Woojin staring in concern. “The first glass is salt water. Works every time.”   
"I'm a freshwater species, you asshole," Hyunjin grumbled as he opened his wardrobe from the floor. "I don't do salt."  
"You're a brackish water species, quit complaining," Jeongin retorted. He skipped to the door and tugged Woojin after him. “Come on, breakfast.”

Seungmin was already in the kitchen, munching on his breakfast and he smiled as they entered.  
“Is Jinnie up?” he asked Jeongin.  
“He better be,” Jeongin replied, looking through the cupboards. “He got the salt water so he has no excuse for falling back to sleep.”  
“Ouch,” Seungmin winced. “I’ll find the honey.”

When Hyunjin stumbled through the door five minutes later, shirt still unbuttoned, Seungmin threw him a bottle of honey.  
“Thanks,” Hyunjin said hoarsely, catching it centimetres from his face. He uncapped it with practiced ease and squirted some in his mouth before going in search of a banana, singing a little song about it to himself.   
Seungmin steered him into a chair and placed a bowl of rice in front of him. “Hurry up and we can get coffee on the way. Did you pack your bag?”  
“‘M korean homework’s on-” Hyunjin yawned.  
“-my desk,” Seungmin finished for him. “I’ll put it in your bag. Hyung, make sure he keeps eating.”

Hyunjin did well on his own for the first few mouthfuls. The fourth he put in his mouth and then stared into space as the rice sat on his tongue.   
Woojin hit his leg with his paw.  
“‘M eating,” Hyunjin said. He rubbed at one eye and started chewing again. Every couple minutes or so he seemed to go back on standby and Woojin would have to tap him again. Eventually Hyunjin’s dismissals became more coherent. “I didn’t want rice. I want coffee,” he grumbled as he stabbed at the remainder of his portion.  
“If you hurry you’ll get coffee,” Woojin reminded him.  
“Yeah, yeah. I know. Rice is good for me,” Hyunjin said, misinterpreting Woojin's yips. He spooned the final grains into his mouth and dumped the dish in the sink. “I need to find my tie,” he muttered to himself as he headed back to the bedrooms.

***

Jeongin and Seungmin were sitting waiting with Woojin while Hyunjin was still stumbling back and forth.  
“Does this happen every day?” Woojin asked.  
“Sometimes we leave him,” Jeongin admitted. “But I have P.E. first so I don’t care if I’m late.”  
“Hyunjin and I have social science,” Seungmin said, peering round the door to see what stage of ready Hyunjin had managed. “If he’s much later we’ll have to skip the cafe to make it in time.”  
“I’m still going to the cafe,” Jeongin said. “I need sugar to get through dodgeball.”

Seungmin sighed as he checked his phone for the fifth time. “Woojinnie-hyung, can you go growl at him or something?” Seungmin asked. “We have to leave now.”  
“I’m ready, I’m ready,” Hyunjin placated him, coming through the door. “You know we don’t actually have to be in class until the second bell, Minnie.”  
“The second bell is when you should be in class. You should start walking to class on the first bell,” Seungmin said, zipping Hyunjin’s bag shut. It sounded like an old argument. 

Jeongin rolled his eyes at them. “You better still be here when I get home today,” he told Woojin seriously. “No following Channie-hyung into shady buildings, ok?”  
“I’ll be good,” Woojin humoured him. "We might go to the river later though to talk. Is that allowed?"

"I don't know why you can't talk here," Jeongin narrowed his eyes, "but I will allow it this time." Any further regulations Jeongin had were cut off by Seungmin grabbing his arm and dragging his down the stairs.  
"Bye, Hyung!" Seungmin yelled.  
"Bye Woojinnie-hyung!" Hyunjin echoed. "Have fun with Channie-hyung!"

Troublemakers.

***

Woojin was more comfortable in his wolf form but now the kids weren't distracting him the sounds and smells of Seoul waking up were a lot to take in. 3RACHA was situated on a side street between two much busier streets and he could hear the traffic getting louder on the main roads as well as the occasional car taking a shortcut faster than they should and gaggles of school kids walking up the pavement. 

The chicken shop next door was shut but he could hear then getting a delivery around the back as well as smell the strong odor of food waste from their bins waiting to be collected. 3RACHA hadn't opened yet for the day but someone was moving things about downstairs. It sounded like boxes of supplies from the way things were clattering together every couple of minutes or so. Woojin would bet his tag it was Chan. He'd likely been at it all night given the sleeping habits Woojin had observed from him. 

Even with the shop shut it was best not to have an adult wolf walking in sight of the windows so if Woojin wanted to see what Chan was doing he'd have to shift back. Going wolf to human had always been harder for Woojin. There was a joke among werewolves that your preferred form indicated how you were conceived. The idea held out since most turned wolves were known to favour their human form but Woojin tried not to think about his parents like that.

Considering he’s spent less than four days of the last 400 in his human form Woojin knew this shift would be rough. There was a good chance he just entirely passed out immediately afterwards so it was best he go back to Jeongin’s room and not make it look like there’d been a murder in the kitchen.

Woojin stretched first, taking the time to feel every part of his body. At a molecular level very little was changing as most of what made up a mammal was the same. His innate magic did the rest. Multiplying cells from nothing, dissolving and replacing tissues the two species didn’t share, rearranging bones and organs to join differently. There was a lot for his magic to do. The most important of course was preserving his soul and his memories. Thankfully, that was one part of the process he couldn’t control at all and it always happened without him even being aware of it.

General shifters like Jeongin had to be more careful. Provided he had fully absorbed the species’ form memory, Jeongin’s soul would remain whole but his memories were at higher risk with forms further from human. If the species didn’t have the mental capacity or it was just too different from something Jeongin had done before then his memories could be lost and he could be stuck in that form without the knowledge that he even had another form to go back to. It made what Woojin did sound like child’s play.

And yet, Woojin fucked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha you fools thought you were getting the walk!
> 
> SIKE
> 
> next chapter, I promise.... probably


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah about that walk

The pain was blinding. Literally. Every nerve in his body was activated at once and the magnitude drowned out any signals from his other senses. Thankfully it was a pain that only lasted a second as the nerves themselves were then reformed to fit his new body. Woojin regained his sight as he lay panting and shivering on the floor, fighting the urge to throw up. Luna, that was awful.

Chan appeared in the doorway. “Are you alright?” he asked, hovering over Woojin as if he was afraid to touch him. “I thought I heard something.”  
“I might have screamed,” Woojin admitted, sitting up on shaky arms. 

Chan was at his side immediately and wrapped Jeongin’s blanket around him, holding him gently. “Did something go wrong?” Chan asked.  
Woojin shook his head. “No, I’m just a dumbass. I was busy concentrating on getting back to human form that I forgot to shift nerve-first. It doesn’t hurt now. Actually, everything’s a little numb.”  
“Ah, your nerves hyperpolarised,” Chan said knowingly. “They should reach their resting potential quickly though.” He held Woojin upright with one hand at the small of his back and stroked the thumb of his other hand along Woojin’s cheek. “Can you feel that yet?”

“Yeah,” Woojin said distractedly. “What on earth were you saying about my nerves?”  
“Oh” Chan blushed. “They hyperpolarised. It’s a thing that happens to a nerve cell after it activates and then it can’t activate again for a little bit. Normally it’s milliseconds but I guess since all of yours will have gone off at once and maybe didn’t have enough molecules made yet for a second round you didn’t have any nerve signalling for a little bit.”

Woojin had never even considered how nerves worked. So long as his did what they were supposed to do when they were supposed to do it Woojin was happy to leave them to it. Chan was clearly fascinated by the subject though. While he had been shy at first to have revealed his interest, the intrigue of Woojin’s weird biology had Chan’s eyes lighting up as he considered the possibilities. Woojin wanted to see more of Chan like this and so he asked the obvious question.

“Where did you learn that, Channie? That sounds like complicated stuff.”  
“I have a degree in human biology,” Chan grinned. “Well, I have two but the first one was before they really knew what cells were so I studied it again a few years back.”  
“The council gave you time off?” Woojin asked. That didn’t sound right.  
Chan shrugged. “I was part-time. And uni doesn’t take up as much time after you’ve learnt to write essays from the first time.”

“Yeah, my business degree was easier,” Woojin agreed.  
“You did business?” Chan asked excitedly. “Can you take over the shop admin- I have no idea what I’m doing.” He tugged on Woojin’s arm and pouted up at him.  
“Why don’t you go get a business degree yourself?” Woojin suggest cheekily. “You said it was easy.”  
“It’ll still take four years,” Chan pointed out. “And you saw what happened yesterday. I’m not leaving those three minding the shop all day while I go to lectures.”

“Fair point,” Woojin conceded. “Where do you keep your sales records?”  
Chan bit his lip and looked at the ground.  
“You don’t keep sales records?” Woojin sighed. “Channie, that’s literally step one.”  
“I didn’t know that!” Chan protested. “I don’t have a business degree!”  
“You just buy more of something when it runs out, don’t you?” Woojin asked, shaking his head in disappointment.   
“Yes,” Chan squeaked, flinching away from Woojin’s judgement.

Woojin had guessed as much from watching how they handled stock ordering. Their whole system was a mess. It was a wonder they made enough profit to keep the shop open. Actually…  
“You do make a profit, right?” Woojin checked. It would be just like Chan to sell things cheaper to help out his customers and only live off accumulated wealth.

“We do!” Chan was very proud of himself for meeting the bare minimum. “Not very much but I’m not really paying any wages and the shop is bought not rented so it’s fine.”  
Woojin rubbed his forehead. He’d have to fix Chan’s attitude to running a business while he was at it. “Go find all your documents and bring them to the dining room table.” Woojin ordered. “I’ll look at them after breakfast.”

“Thank you!!” Chan beamed. He leaned in (not that he’d been very far away in the first place) and hugged Woojin tightly before pressing a quick kiss to Woojin’s cheek and sprinting out of the room. Woojin’s nerves in his cheek were certainly working and he shut his eyes to savour the memory of the kiss as a warm feeling spread across his chest. Here he was falling for this idiot all over again. That must make him an idiot too.

***

Changbin shuffled into the dining room and stopped in his tracks on his way to the kitchen.   
“Why is there maths on the table instead of food?” His eyes widened as he took in the mess of papers. 

Chan had found his records. Unfortunately, most of them existed as scribbled notes before he typed their orders into the laptop. He’d also attempted to work out income from his bank balance which was so horrendous Woojin had had to look away from the laptop as he did it.

“There’s food on the stove for you,” Woojin assured him. “I won’t make you eat the maths.”  
“Woojin’s got a business degree!” Chan called out Changbin happily. “He’s fixing our accounts!”  
“I’m _making_ your accounts,” Woojin muttered as he attempted to negotiate the new version of excel. _Why did they have to move everything?_ “Don’t pretend there was any logic to this before.”

Changbin came back with a bowl in his hand and a spoon hanging from his mouth. He blinked sleepily at them before sitting down opposite, on the side with the least paper.  
“I’m starting to see why you wouldn’t let me pay for the wolfsbane,” Woojin said conversationally. “There’s nothing here that gives any indication of a pricing model.”  
“A what?” Changbin said, raising an eyebrow at Chan.  
“Woojinnie thinks we should decide how much something costs before someone wants to buy it,” Chan told him sagely.

Changbin frowned. “But then you can’t make it cheaper for nice people.” Wasn’t he adorable.  
“There’s nothing wrong with making it cheaper for nice people,” Woojin started. “Well, there is actually _but_ this isn’t a corporate business so I’ll let that go.” Woojin took a deep breath and tried again. “What I was trying to explain to Chan was that you need predetermined prices so the staff aren’t selling the same product at wildly different prices. You’ll never get loyal customers that way.”

“We do have loyal customers,” Chan pointed out. “And they don’t complain about the prices.”  
“I bet that’ll be because you charge them so little they feel like they’re stealing from you.” Woojin muttered. He typed in the last of the figures Chan had found and looked at the data. “You are making a profit when it’s just output over input but this does cover anything like electricity bills or council tax. With that included, I doubt it. Also- your sales are so inconsistent.”

“What’s a council tax?” Changbin garbled around his food.   
“Money you pay the human government for having a house. It pays for stuff like bin collection and street lighting.” Woojin told him. Dwarves tended to keep to themselves, even amongst the dwarf community. Shared resources wasn’t a concept Changbin would have grown up with.  
“Hmm.” Changbin at least seemed intrigued by the idea.

“Do you want my council tax figures?” Chan asked wearily.   
“Yes please, Channie.” Woojin smiled winningly. Someone had to stay positive as the paperwork piled up and if Woojin was being honest with himself he was kind of enjoying the challenge.  
“It’ll be in my room,” Chan sighed and got up.

***

When Felix finally got up he saw what Woojin was doing and stuck to his side like glue.  
“Hyungie, what?” was the question Woojin got asked every five minutes and it was so cute Woojin didn’t mind answering him every time.

“Hyungie, what?” Felix stuck his finger on the screen. The colour warped where he touched it and Woojin gently pulled his finger back.  
“It turned green because Changbinnie is doing good.” Woojin told him.

It turned out that Changbin’s part of the business- his cut gems and jewellery- was what was making all the profit. Changbin actually took note of how much he paid for the raw materials from his hometown and took pictures of all his completed items. Going back through his phone Changbin had been able to note down how much he sold memorable pieces for and estimate what resources he had used to make it. With the amount of skill that went into the work, especially in comparison to human jewellers, his pieces sold at a massive profit.

“Changbinnie-hyung is the best!” Felix said proudly. “He makes very pretty things.” He showed off his rings and bracelets to Woojin, explaining the meaning behind each design in broken Korean. Once he had made it through all his rings he gasped as he remembered something and pulled a chain out of his pyjama top. On the end of the chain was a different ring, this one much heavier than the others. “This is Binnie-hyung’s ring from his family. It has his family picture.” Felix pulled his chin back into his neck as he tried to look at the ring and show it to Woojin at the same time.

“His family crest,” Chan clarified for Woojin, standing to help Felix take the necklace off. “It’s a golden pig. _Find light in the dark_ or something. I can never remember.” Chan squinted at the ring to see if the motto was inscribed.  
 _“Shine in the darkness,_ ” Felix said. “Like pretty stone in dirt and fancy food pig finds in dirt.”  
“And Binnie in dirt,” Chan added, giggling when Felix hit him. “Sorry! _Sorry!_ Binnie is shiny even when he’s not in the dirt.”

***

"Wooooojiniiiiieee," Chan sang, lying across the table. "Wooooo jiiiiiin iiiiiiiieee, I'm booooored."  
"Go write a song about it then," Woojin told him, not looking up from his work. 

He was trying to optimise the stock order Chan had forgotten to make the previous day. Felix was running little errands for him down to the shop as Woojin tried to get them the best deal. Woojin was amazed he managed to find any of the things Woojin sent him for in that chaos. Chan was technically specialist support as he knew what most of the smaller ingredients were used for and how much space they had but Woojin hadn't needed his help in a while.

"I'm so booooored!" Chan sang. "Woojin won't go on a waaaalk with me even though he saaaid he would." It was quite a nice tune.  
"I said go write a song, not lie on the table and make it up. Isn't there a ukulele in your room?" Woojin asked him. "Go add some chords."  
"You're trying to get rid of me." Chan face appeared right above the laptop.  
"I am." Woojin didn't deny it. "If you stop distracting me I'll be done sooner and we can go for a walk."

Chan beamed. "You agreed to go on the walk."  
"I agreed yesterday, you dumbass." Woojin couldn't keep himself from smiling but he resolutely didn't look up from the laptop.   
"I'm going to write a song for you," Chan decided. He sneaked forward and kissed Woojin on the temple before dashing away at vampire speed.   
"It better not be C, G, A minor, F, Channie!" Woojin called after him.

Chan rushed back into the room, denting the door frame in the process.  
"You know about music," he said breathlessly.  
"Yeah, I sing," Woojin admitted, fiddling with the laptop's charging cable. "My other degree is music."  
"Marry me," Chan whispered and then clamped his hands over his mouth as he turned bright red. "You didn't hear that," he squeaked and hit about three walls in his way out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my google search history is pretty weird after writing that. I have 0 degrees so if that was all bullshit, im sorry
> 
> also, i swear this walk is coming. i really am trying to finish this fic i swear


	24. Chapter 24

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, ive still not got to the walk. its starting to piss me off but at least you guys seem to be enjoying my skill of overwriting the found family trope

When Woojin was happy with the order he clicked through to the checkout and glanced up at the door. Chan still hadn’t returned but that was in Woojin’s favour. He pulled out his wallet and ignored the autofill of Chan’s credit card details in favour of his own. That would teach them for trying to give him wolfsbane, food and accomodation for free.

Woojin shut the laptop as the green successful transaction icon appeared and stretched his arms over his head. His back cracked in several places satisfyingly. He really needed to move around and get all his joints and muscles to settle into the right position because currently he felt like one wrong move away from lying crippled on the floor.

Woojin made his way downstairs and round to the shopfront, knowing that avoiding Chan would do him no good but too unsure to deal with his feelings. The shop actually had customers, he was pleased to see. Two women in, he guessed, their 50’s were chatting happily with Jisung while a third was getting Felix’s help to reach something on a high shelf. Changbin was frowning as he scrolled through the laptop at the till. Woojin hoped he was attempting the pricing structure he told him about.

“You’re new,” one of the women said as Woojin appeared from the back. It wasn’t said maliciously, just a statement of fact from someone who was very sure of their surroundings.  
“I’m the latest adoptee,” Woojin told her with a tired smile. If only it was that simple. “Are you finding everything alright?” If he put on his customer service persona maybe she wouldn’t ask any personal questions.  
“Oh, yes,” the other woman replied. “We just came for some agarics and a look around. It’s a lovely little shop.”

Jisung smiled greasily at Woojin as if the compliment was his alone. A bold opinion from someone who put the structural integrity of the building at risk on the regular. Woojin came to stand behind him and ruffled the young witch’s fluffy blue hair.  
“Stop causing chaos,” Woojin told him fondly.  
“I’m not causing any chaos!” Jisung protested, turning around to look affronted.  
“Keep it that way,” Woojin told him. “No demon summoning today.” 

From their purchase choice and the slightly burnt smell in the air Woojin figured at least one of the women was a witch too and was safe to talk about the mystic world around. Not that it really mattered considering demons weren’t real so it was a joke to an adult of any species. The council couldn’t arrest him for throwing humans off the trail.

“Wasn’t gonna summon demons,” Jisung grumbled, turning back to the desk and failing to subtly crumple a drawing out of Woojin’s sight.  
One of the women raised a sculpted eyebrow at Woojin and he held a finger to his lips with a smile. Yeah, she was a witch for sure.   
“Having you been causing trouble for Channie again, Jisungie?” the woman asked, tutting. “I don’t know how that poor boy manages all of you on his own. I get exhausted just watching you boys dashing about this place.”

“Channie-hyung’s got help now,” Jisung pointed his thumb at Woojin. Woojin did not appreciate his rocky relationship being published to strangers but there was no stopping Jisung’s motor-mouth. “Woojinnie-hyung and him were born in the same year,” Jisung pulled a face as if this fact physically repulsed him, “and Hyung is making us learn prices for things now.”  
“I’m not making you memorise them,” Woojin told him. “We can write prices on things.”

“Oh _good,”_ the third woman said, coming over and adding a small box to the pile in front of Changbin. Changbin’s frown deepened but he said nothing. “They could use charging more here.”  
“Why do you want us to charge _more,_ Noona?” Jisung asked.   
“The quality of your products is much too high for the prices you charge,” one woman said. All three women were dressed in expensive-looking monochrome coats and Woojin was starting to lose track of them. “That fancy shop on the other side of the river charges twice as much and I swear their organics are never have the life in them to really hold a potion together like yours do.”

“Thank you, Noona,” Changbin said quietly. “But we don’t want to raise our prices too much.”  
The woman shook her head and turned to Woojin. “You’ll make sure they pay themselves for their hard work?”  
“I’ll do my best, ma’am,” Woojin bowed. A muscle in his lower back screamed at him.   
She seemed satisfied with his answer and turned back to Changbin. “Now, Changbinnie, have you worked out how much you are going to charge us today?”  
Changbin winced. “30,000 Won?” Woojin knew he’d pulled that answer out of his ass.  
“I don’t think so,” the woman said. “There are reishi and turkey tail there. You take this and don’t complain.” She handed Changbin a 50,000 Won note and scooped her purchases into her bag, disappearing out of the shop as quickly as her friends.

Changbin sighed and put the note in the till.   
“We made a profit, Hyung!” Jisung said excitedly.  
“Through no fault of your own,” Woojin pointed out. “Lixie, get out the window display!”  
Felix had crawled back into the display when he wasn’t looking and was waving happily at the women, sending them finger hearts while they cooed at him.  
“Like window, Hyungie!” Felix said.  
“I know darling,” Woojin said, not really expecting Felix to listen. 

“Lixie, come out of there and we can play the letters game,” Changbin called and Felix spun through the display and vaulted the table in seconds. Woojin was suddenly reminded that Felix was from an entirely different world. He idly wondered if the fae had swords. Felix would be deadly with a sword.

“Play and Sungie?” Felix asked hopefully.  
“Yeah, I’ll play,” Jisung said. “I’m going to win though. I know _way_ more words than you!” Jisung lunged for Felix who screamed and ran as Jisung chased to pin him down with tickles.   
Changbin rolled his eyes and pulled the laptop out of their way as Felix fought back. “Yah! You pair of boulders- watch where you’re going!”  
“Sorry Binnie-hyung,” Felix called as Jisung cackled and rolled away from him. “Give Lixie letters.”

“Lix, find me something beginning with….’Bin’” Changbin said.  
Felix ran round the desk and tackled Changbin in a hug. “Binnie-hyung!” Felix said, pressing his cheek against Changbin’s chest.  
“Wow, that was so unexpected,” Woojin deadpanned.   
Changbin stuck out his tongue and squeezed Felix tight. “Sung, find me something beginning with ‘Cham.’”

 _“Cham??”_ Jisung said. “Nothing begins with cham. This is unfair.”  
“You said you were going to win.” Changbin said smuggly. “Go find something.”  
“Just you wait,” Jisung grumbled as left to wander around the shop, pulling random items off the shelf and muttering to himself.

“Again, Binnie-hyung,” Felix said. “Harder letter.”  
“A more difficult letter, hmm,” Changbin thought hard. “Something beginning with 'Tal' then."  
“Tal, tal, tal..” Felix repeated the word as he began his search. Woojin thought that ‘talon’ would work if they had any bird’s claws in here but there was no way Felix would know that word. The poor boy would never get it if he did as the word had mutated in his repetitions to ‘tail.’  
“Tal, Lixie,” Changbin reminded him. “Like in ‘talent.’”

“Stop fucking helping him!” Jisung screeched. He was precariously balanced atop of the back of a chair to try and reach a higher shelf.  
“Language, Sungie,” Woojin chastised him. This was still an open business.  
“You’re not my Dad,” Jisung scoffed and then screamed as he lost his balance and flailed before falling backwards.

Woojin had seen it coming and was there to catch him. Jisung was incredibly light and Woojin managed to hold onto him even as one of his shoulders threatened to dislocate at the sudden force. He really needed to stretch properly. He lowered Jisung back to his feet but the boy clung to him.  
“I take it back. You can be my Dad.” Jisung’s hands were fisted in his jumper.  
“How about big brother?” Woojin suggested. The title of ‘Dad’ felt a heavy burden.  
“A brother would definitely have let me fall on my ass,” Jisung said shakily. “Ask Changbin.”

“I would have, and did, let him fall,” Changbin agreed. “You’re prime Dad potential.”  
“I resent that claim,” Woojin said though his heart felt a little bit fuller. He pried Jisung’s hands from his jumper but the boy just decided to jump onto his back instead.   
“Shouldn’t have started sucking face with our other Dad then,” Jisung said cheekily right in Woojin’s ear.   
Woojin could feel his face heating up. “We’re not ‘sucking face.’” Woojin said, batting Jisung’s own face away.  
“Ok, but you _were_ and you _will be.”_ Jisung, the menace, decided Woojin was a good substitute for the perfectly functional ladder they had and climbed further up his back to hang off Woojin’s head and reach out to one of the shelves. Chan was lucky he was cute enough for Woojin to overlook his children’s appalling manners.

“I don’t know,” Woojin said, gritting his teeth as Jisung used his ear as a handhold. “The cons are really starting to _outweigh_ the pros.”  
Jisung ignored him and cawed in victory as he finally grabbed what he had been reaching for. “Suck it, Seo Changbin! _Cham_ omile!” He threw a tin at Changbin who had to make a dive for it least the contents go spilling all over the floor.  
“Now get off me,” Woojin said once Jisung had righted himself. “I’m not a climbing frame.”  
“Ok, Dad.” Jisung jumped off and began a victory dance in front of Changbin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bets on the walk actually happening next chapter??


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know I kinda suggested that updates would be faster for the holidays but uh, I found a painting by numbers?  
> id show you my painting but i havent worked out how to upload images yet
> 
>  
> 
> Also Im trialing a slightly different format so let me know what you think

Changbin pushed Jisung away but it didn't dampen the witch's spirit who continued his victory dance. It mostly involved shaking his fists while shufling from side to side.

"Where's Channie-hyung anyway?" Changbin asked, turning pointed away from Jisung. "Is he going to let us off for lunch or are we shutting the shop?"

 

Woojin wasn’t about to give them ammunition by explaining what had happened earlier when he mentioned he could sing. Instead he gave Changbin a half-truth. “I think he’s writing a song?”

“Without us?” Jisung gasped, the hurt on his face at odds with fist-pumping dance move he had frozen doing.

“You really want to make another ‘Wow’?” Changbin asked him. “By all means, go join him.” Changbin bent in a mockingly low sweeping bow and disappeared behind the counter.

Jisung frowned. “Surely it’s not that bad. Woojinnie-hyung isn’t a siren.”

 

“I’m not a what?” Woojin asked. Luna, what nonsense was he going to discover now.

“Wooow she’s hot hototot.” Felix sang excitedly. “Jisungie and Hyungs made a song for a-”

“NO.” Jisung said, trying to drown Felix’s explanation out as Changbin lunged and clamped a hand over the young fae boy’s mouth.

“Woojinnie-hyung doesn’t need to know about that,” Changbin said quickly, his ears turning red.

“Oh I think I do.” Woojin grinned. This sounded like a great story. He just needed Chan there to turn into a blushing fumbling mess and it would be perfect. "Let's close the shop for lunch."

***

Felix skipped off to get Chan for lunch and returned 30 seconds later, squirming over Chan’s shoulder. 

“Channie-hyung has a new song but he won’t let me listen to it,” Felix told them. 

Chan slapped his butt and put the fae boy down. Felix scampered to sit down on the kitchen stool next to Changbin.

“Absolutely not,” Chan said cheerily. “That song is for my ears and my ears alone until I am done at which point it will be permanently deleted from my harddrive.”

“Oh? Did you learn a hard lesson from ‘Wow’?” Woojin grinned from where he was leaning against the counter, basking in the embarrassment he was causing.

“Who the fuck told him about ‘Wow’?” Chan asked, anger poorly masking his panic.

“Felix!” Jisung pointed.

“Binnie-hyung!” Felix countered. 

“Oh no. It was definitely Lix.” Changbin joined Jisung in throwing Felix under the bus. 

Felix only looked proud of himself. He was rapidly becoming Woojin’s favourite which was an impressive feat when Jeongin was his competition. Not that Woojin had favourites. That would be a bad thing for him to have as a parental figure.

 

“Felix, I trusted you,” Chan whined. 

“So. What’ll it be, Channie?” Woojin grinned. “‘Wow’ or your new song?”

“Neither! You’re hearing neither! Ever.” Chan said firmly. He pulled out the free stool to sit with his back to Woojin and started shoveling food into his bowl. 

“Spoil sport,” Woojin smiled at the back of Chan’s frizzy hair but decided to let his teasing go, having terrorised them nearly enough for now. “Felix will get me a copy of ‘Wow’ later, won’t you Lixie?”

“Yes, Hyungie. It’s on my phone!” Felix grinned.

“Ya!” Changbin yelled, smacking Felix on the arm. “How did you get that?”

Felix flinched away with a happy giggle. “Not telling!”

“I regret teaching you to read,” Chan grumbled around his food.

 

All four seats at the kitchen counter were filled with ravenous boys fighting over the best food. Woojin didn’t have a seat but he didn’t mind, he’d eaten bites as he’d cooked and they were happy together. Jisung was trying futility to hold Chan back as the vampire reached for his second helping. His skinny arms had no power and Chan mimed biting his fingers as he brushed him off. 

Felix used Chan’s distraction to steal when he wasn’t looking. He had the face of an angel but the mind of a demon. (A non-malicious one summoned by butter pentagram.) Having succeeded, Felix turned to smiled proudly with full cheeks to Changbin who rolled his eyes and wiped sauce from Felix’s chin.  
“Use your chopsticks, Lixie,” Changbin reminded him fondly. “It’s much less messy."

 

“Woojin-ah-hyung? Why aren’t you eating?” Jisung turned to ask, concerned. 

“I ate as I was cooking, Jisungie,” Woojin told him. “And there’s no space at the counter so I’ll do the dishes before they dry.”

Chan’s head whipped around and he frowned at Woojin. “Get away from the dishes, Jinnie. You’re not allowed to cook and clean. House rules.” 

He pointed to the fridge and _damn ok, Chan had him there._ A list of rules were written on red marker on the magnetic surface. The first few rules were in neat lines- sensibly boring standard household stuff. ‘Whoever cooks doesn’t wash up’ was number 4. Below that the script got loopier as if written in a rush and there was a pink smudge behind the words as if editions had been partially erased many times. The rules also became more… specific.

 

“‘No trees in the house’?” Woojin read.

Changbin pointed to Felix. “Lixie and Minnie made the Christmas tree grow to like 10 feet overnight. It hit the ceiling and fell over at 5am and there were needles everywhere.”

“It was a very pretty tree,” Felix defended himself.

“So you kept telling it,” Jisung grumbled. “That’s why it grew so fast.”

“Ok,” Woojin said, grinning as he imagined it. He’d felt the power of Felix’s words firsthand and he didn’t doubt that he and Seungmin could manage that with even a cut tree. “‘No following strangers that know your horoscope’?”

“Innie and Hyunjin,” Chan sighed. “On separate occasions.” That wasn’t worrying in the slightest.

“‘No cartwheels-’”

“Ok ok,” Chan cut him off. “You’ve read enough. Let me seduce you first before my children put you off.” He hurried to his feet and dragged Woojin away from the fridge.

“Your children are adorable if slight fire hazards,” Woojin argued.

“Thank you!” Jisung interrupted.

“You’re the real problem here,” Woojin told Chan jokingly.

Chan pouted. “Do you still not trust me?”

 

“It was literally yesterday, Channie,” Woojin patted Chan’s hand. How was this idiot an apex predator? He just pouted at everything. “And yesterday was an incredibly traumatising experience so no, I don’t trust you again yet. You’ve got to make it up to me.”

Changbin gagged on his food. “Please, take your horrendous flirting outside,” he choked out, tears springing in the corners of his eyes. Felix patted him on the back far too gently for it to be any good.

“I think I will,” Chan said smugly, holding out his arm for Woojin. “Would you care to accompany me, Mr. Kim?”

“If you insist.” Woojin linked their arms and used the joke as an excuse to feel up Chan’s bicep. He was pleased to find his hand couldn’t even fit halfway around his arm. Chan spun them around and out the door.

“Hey!” Jisung yelled after them. “Are you skipping shop duty again?!”

“I’ll make it up to you, Sungie!” Chan called over his shoulder.

“And you still owe me cheesecake!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> right. there should be absolutely NOTHING to distract me from the walk now


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fucking did it lads
> 
> (also ive obvs never been to seoul so I havent the remotest idea how the city is laid out. fill in the gaps with your imagination)

"I know a great park-" Chan grabbed Woojin's hand once he had locked the shop door and then turned back with a frown as Woojin didn't budge. "Woojin?"

Woojin squeezed his hand and tugged Chan back to his side. "I'm not following you to suspicious locations again, Channie. We're going this way and I'm going to get us horribly lost."

Woojin pulled Chan down the street and Chan skipped a few steps to catch up.

"This way goes to the shops," Chan protested. 

"Ah ah ah!" Woojin said over the top of him. "You don't get a say in where we're going."

"This is the way to the shops though?" Chan said. Maybe it was too much for his sleep-deprived brain to handle.

Woojin tucked Chan under his arm and with no plan in mind steered them left onto the main street. "Stop trying to influence me, Channie. It's not going to work."

***

"Are we going to stop at some point?" Chan asked. They had passed through the bustling high street 3RACHA was a part of; crossed the river on a narrow, artistically angled footbridge; wound around a steepled church; and were entering the real high-rise part of the city centre with flashing signs and gleaming windows.

"We might," Woojin said. "There's too many humans around though. I want to find somewhere quieter."

"Maybe you should have walked in the other direction." Chan said lightly.

"Maybe," Woojin agreed, angling them to the side of the street so they could pause while he made his next plan. "Are you hungry?" KFC was tempting him from across the street.

Chan hummed. "Yes. But I'm always hungry. I don't need to eat right now." He followed Woojin's line of sight and laughed. "Are you craving KFC?"

 _"No,_ " Woojin said petulantly. "I was just being polite."

"Come on," Chan pulled them through the throngs of people finishing work early. "You deserve it."

***

"Where to now?" Chan asked once they had polished off far more food than they should have for a mid-afternoon snack. 

"Dunno," Woojin said. His stomach was full of chicken and Chan was by his side, he wasn't too inclined to go anywhere at that moment. "Is there somewhere you want to go?"

"I thought I was banned from making destinational suggestions," Chan teased him, leaning into Woojin space as he grinned, trying to get Woojin to crack.

"You are," Woojin replied seriously. "Your preferences will not be listened to."

"In that case I want to get ice cream and sit in a park," Chan said.

"It's January."

"It's _my_ preference," Chan said smugly. "Ice cream isn't going to make me feel colder at any time of the year so I might as well enjoy one of the few benefits I have by eating ice cream in January."

"Ok," Woojin said. He stood up and held out a hand to Chan. "We're _not_ getting ice cream."

***

"I know I was too hasty to try and adopt you," Chan started, then paused to save his ice cream by licking it back into the centre of the cone. "Go left." Woojin went right. "But you can stay in the back store room if you want. Like a lodger only not paying."

"I'd pay you, Chan." Woojin said, holding Chan close to him as they walked since Chan's focus was intently on his ice cream. He seemed to be having difficulty since neither his tongue nor the cool winter air was melting it enough for his licks to do anything but push the scoop precariously close to toppling out of the cone.

"You're not paying me," Chan said distractedly. "Oh! Cross- I mean don't cross the road." 

Woojin checked for traffic and lead them across the street, Chan dutifully stopping when Woojin did as Woojin let a taxi speed in front of them, his eyes on his ice cream. Woojin could see the entrance to the park now,a small alleyway down the side of a multistory car park.

"I cleared most of the stuff out of that back room," Chan continued. "It needed it anyway. There's an old couch at the minute but we can buy a mattress and make a palette bed? And there's a toilet under the stairs at that side too but you'd have to come upstairs to shower." Chan wasn't even aware they'd reached the park or that Woojin had stopped and was staring at him with a fond look in his eyes.

"Why? Is your bed going to be full now?" Woojin said.

Chan's head shot up. "What?"

"I don't see the logic in buying a brand new mattress when yours is so often empty," Woojin said. "And if you do decide to go to bed at normal people hours I could compensate for the lack of space with cuddles?"

Chan stared at him, expression unchanging but Woojin was confident he hadn't read the situation wrong. Chan wasn't blinking, actually there was a good chance he wasn't even breathing.

 

"Yes or no, Channie," Woojin prompted, brushing back his fringe. 

"Yes please," Chan breathed out, barely a whisper.

"So polite," Woojin cooed, pinching his cheek. "You're the least scary council member I've ever met."

Chan's nose scrunched up. "I'm not part of the council anymore."

"I know," Woojin said. He ran his hand down Chan's arm and interlaced their fingers. "I believe you. I wouldn't have shifted last night if I didn't."

 

***

 

It was too cold for Woojin to stop and sit down so they wandered along the river bank holding hands. There weren't many other people out in the cold and certainly none with ice cream.

"How often do you think you'll need to shift?" Chan asked. "We've got some beef in the fridge but I guess we'll need more meat if you shift for longer."

"I don't need to eat as often in wolf form," Woojin explained. "It's not a three meals a day thing so I'll just eat when I'm human to make it easier. "The more I've done it the easier it'll get and I'll be able to shift back in an hour or so. I'm going to try and stay human more so I can hold the form faster but let me know if you see I need to shift over the next few weeks because I'll be repressing it."

"Ok," Chan agreed and then bit a massive chunk out his ice cream.

"What in Luna's reign was that," Woojin said, disgusted.

"I' no' me'in," Chan said, tipped his head back to hold the ice cream on his tongue as he talked around it.

"What?"

Chan swallowed. "It's not melting," Chan whined. "I have to bite it."

"You're a heathen," Woojin told him. He stole the ice cream and licked it back into a rounded shape. The ice cream was sweet and vibrant strawberry, a sugar hit Woojin hadn't had in a long time. 

"It's _my_ ice cream," Chan said crossly, jumping as Woojin held the cone away from him. "Give it back."

"Are you going to eat it normally?" Woojin asked, holding it above Chan's head. 

"Yes." Chan rolled his eyes moodily.

 

Woojin returned his cone and Chan licked it happily as he swung their arms between them. Woojin's hand was getting cold out in the winter air but he wasn't going to take it back just to warm up his fingers. Not when Chan was having such a good time.

"It's frozen again," Chan announced, holding up his ice cream.

"It was always frozen."

"No, when you licked it the top bit got melty but that bit is all gone now. Lick it again." Chan held out his ice cream to Woojin.

"Channie, that's gross." Woojin declined Chan's request. 

"Pleeeease, my tongue is too cold. Either you warm up the ice cream or you warm up my mouth." Chan grinned before biting his lip seductively.

 

"I'll warm up the ice cream," Woojin decided, taking the cone and made eye contact with Chan as he slowly licked around the cone. Chan stumbled over his own feet and Woojin had to shoot out a hand to catch him before he went face-first into a bush. “You’re a walking disaster,” Woojin muttered, holding the ice cream out of the way of Chan’s hair as the vampire tripped again and nearly crashed into a passing cyclist. “I flirt back _once.”_

“I wasn’t ready!” Chan wailed. Woojin pulled him off the path and out of the way of any more collisions. “It’s been a long time since anybody’s flirted back.”

“Good,” Woojin said lowly, steadying Chan against his chest. “Are you ready now?” 

Chan looked down to Woojin’s mouth and licked his lips. “Yeah.”

“Ok.” Woojin pulled back slightly and prepared his best pick-up line. “What do you want in your mouth? This ice cream or me?”

 

The ice cream was yanked out of his hand at inhuman speed and hurled at a tree where it exploded against the bark. Woojin watched it happen with an open mouth, not expecting that level of reaction at all. He was so distracted he hadn’t noticed Chan backing him up until his shoulders hit a tree. Chan’s hand cushioned the back of his head and when Woojin looked back to him his eyes were blown wide.

“You,” Chan said breathlessly. “I want you.”

Woojin cupped his jaw. “When we get home?” he asked against Chan’s lips. Chan didn’t answer and dove towards him, pressing his tongue between Woojin's open lips as he gasped. 

 

Woojin had almost entirely forgotten that they were in a public park when Chan pulled back. 

“You called it ‘home’,” Chan said, his eyes flickering with emotion. 

“Yeah, I’m not leaving any time soon,” Woojin assured him. He thought they’d covered this.

“So at the end of the month…?” Woojin could hear the hope in Chan’s voice as a smile tugged at the edges of his mouth.

“Yes, you idiot.” Woojin leant forward to peck Chan on the lips. “I’m staying as long as you want me. Did you really think I was going to up and leave after all this?”

Chan blushed, a faint bloom of colour against his pale cheeks from the blood he’d drunk that morning, and hid his face in Woojin’s neck. “Maybe,” he mumbled. “You don’t like the city.”

“But I like you, Channie,” Woojin kissed the top of his messy curls. “And the six other idiots you’ve collected. The city is not so bad when it’s got you in it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that was disgusting i hate it ew
> 
> i feel like there should be a final chapter where they're all together again but if I dont get that posted in time- happy hanukkah, merry christmas, enjoy any other religious event you may be celebrating and have a good holiday everyone


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so we reach the end of this installment with the end of 2019

Chan was giddily childlike their whole walk home. He held Woojin's hand tight and instigated rounds of hand squeezing contests every time there was a lull in conversation. Woojin wasn't squeezing quite as hard as he could but he suspected neither was Chan. In order to enjoy holding hands you had to still have a hand.

"What's your favourite colour?" Chan asked.

"I don't have one.” Woojin preferred the strength of a colour to it's actual shade but saying that was a cop out. “Red maybe. Or blue.”

"How can you not have a favourite colour?" Chan asked. "You've had two centuries to pick."

"What's yours then?" Woojin said and then he leaned closer to Chan's ear to add "Oh wise immortal being." Chan giggled and pulled up his shoulder to block Woojin’s hot breathe on his skin.

"Black," Chan answered proudly.

“That’s not a colour, it’s a fucking shade.” Woojin made sure Chan saw the disappointment in his face. Honestly, why was he attracted to this man.

 

***

“Kids!” Woojin called as he pushed open the shop door. A blast of warm air hit him in the face, carrying the unique blend of smells he’d come to associate with the shop.

There were only two kids present in the shop- Seungmin and Jisung. Presumably that meant Jisung was minding the shop and Seungmin was just keeping him company. However, Jisung was sprawled across three chairs, phone in hand, while Seungmin sat properly, facing the door with a studious frown on his face. Had Woojin been a customer he would have trusted Seungmin over Jisung, despite Seungmin’s uniform labelling him as a student.

“Please explain to your father that black is not a colour,” Woojin said. He’d been hoping for more of them to really bully Chan en masse but Seungmin and Jisung both had tongues of fire. It was a good start.

Seungmin looked up from his homework. “Hyunjinnie is at swim practice but I’ll tell him to go feral at Channie-hyung later.” He then, without turning or angling his head towards the back stairs in any way, bellowed “INNIE YOUR DADS ARE BACK AND THEY’RE STILL HOLDING HANDS!”

“Woojin isn’t your Dad,” Chan said, dropping Woojin’s hand and pulling at his ear in embarrassment. Since his hand was free, Woojin took off his jacket and slung it over the back of a chair. Chan hadn’t bothered with a jacket since it made no difference to him and vampire privileges meant he could be blatantly supernatural without the council coming after him.

“He’s definitely our Dad,” Jisung said. “Hyung saved my life earlier today and won his Dad Award.”

“Why was your life in danger in the first place?” Chan asked.

“I was falling,” Jisung said cryptically, suddenly interested in a book display.

 

There was a clattering series of thuds from above them, strangely well-amplified, followed by a muffled whine of pain. Woojin’s ears weren’t as sharp as he would like but it was a distinctive sound he remembered from when he used to live in a crammed house with his childhood pack. A child falling down the stairs.

“Innie, will you watch where you’re going,” Chan said exasperatedly, ducking through the back to check if his youngest had maintained consciousness and possessed four limbs in some variety.

“Hyung worries too much, he’s fine,” Seungmin told Woojin as he caught the werewolf’s look of alarm. He flipped a page and highlighted the top line. “All the thuds were bouncy.”

“I am concerned that your heritage means you genuinely believe everything you just said,” Woojin told him. _How on earth could a thud be bouncy? And why would that be a good thing?_

Jisung shot Woojin a peace sign and a lazy grin. “Welcome to the family.”

 

Jeongin was fine. Jeongin was also full of sass. “I see Channie-hyung managed not to accidentally kick his lost puppy today. There is still hope for the older generation.”

Woojin couldn’t work out if that was an insult to Chan, to him, or to both of them.  
“How old is he?” Woojin stage-whispered to Chan, ready to get Jeongin back for the age jab.

“Seventeen,” Chan whispered back.

“Like, _actually_ Seventeen,” Woojin was so shocked he forgot to whisper.

“Yes.” Jeongin crossed his arms and tossed his hair as he lifted his chin. It only emphasised the baby fat still clinging to his cheeks.

“Chan, that’s a _baby._ ” Woojin said, concern bleeding into his voice. “Luna shining, you were born this century, weren’t you?” he asked Jeongin.

“Yes. 2001,” Jeongin said, tilting his head at Woojin’s panic.

“I was born in 2000!” Jisung called out unhelpfully, waving his hand.

 

“These are literal children,” Woojin clarified, his heart starting to race. He gestured to the wide-eyed, baby-faced boys in front of him that didn’t even know what life was like without smartphones, let alone without electricity and running water. The boys just stared.

Chan nodded, frowning at Woojin. This idiot was too damn altruistic for his own good.

“Channie, you don’t even know black isn’t a colour! Why are you in charge of so many children?” Woojin didn’t know how to get across how crazy this set-up was.

“Hyung,” Jeongin said condescendingly to Chan. “Black is the absence of colour.” Woojin appreciated the support but it was no longer his main concern.

 

“Hey, Dad. Are you ok there?” Jisung asked, taking his feet off the chairs to peer at Woojin in concern.

“I thought you were all older,” Woojin said weakly. “Immortal fake ages and all that. But no, Chan really leaves a bunch of teenagers in charge of a shop full of explosives every day.”

“Technically _I’m_ the most volatile explosive here.” Jisung grinned proudly.

“Not helping, Sungie,” Woojin said, his voice cracking. “Are you really the youngest?” he asked Jeongin. _Please let seventeen be the youngest._

“Probably,” Jeongin admitted grudgingly. “Hyunjinnie-hyung, Seungminnie-hyung and Lixie-hyung have made-up birthdays but we pretend they’re all the same age as Jisungie-hyung.”

“And Changbinnie?” Woojin asked. “Is he a kid too?” _Was anybody in this building a functional adult?_ (Chan had been ruled out on the functional requirement for several obvious reasons.)

“He’s 37,” Chan said, rubbing soothing circles on Woojin’s back. “Which is about 19 in human years, what with the dwarves obsession with the number 6.”

“Uh-huh,” Woojin said. “Another child. How are any of you still alive?”

“A question I ask myself every day,” Seungmin sighed dramatically. “I give it 30 seconds before the next disaster.”

 

It wasn’t even that long and Chan’s phone was ringing. Well, shouting not ringing. It sounded like the kids had recorded themselves saying ‘guah?’ on repeat and Woojin could pick out Jeongin’s breathy laugh in the background as Chan pulled out his phone. Woojin was amazed they had managed not to overpower the phone’s tiny mic but perhaps one of them was a hidden music producing talent he didn’t know of.

Chan frowned and held the phone as far from his ears as possible as he read the caller ID. “Can you guys stop doing that,” he said crossly to the kids giggling in front of him. “I don’t know how to turn it off and if I put the phone on silent I’ll miss something important.” He accepted the call and the noise thankfully stopped. “Hiya Hyunjinnie, what’s up?...Really, Jinnie?” Chan’s irritation only grew and he gave a weary sigh. “Tell your coach I’ll be half an hour.. Yes, yes ok, go get changed. I’ll see you soon, bye.

“I have to go into school to see Hyunjinnie’s coach,” Chan told the sea of curious faces. “He forgot to tell me about a meeting after the session today.” Chan rolled his eyes and started booking an uber. “I’m going to have to glue a GoPro to his head if he keeps forgetting things at this rate,” he muttered to himself.

“Maybe he-” Seungmin’s sassy remark was cut off by a yelp from the back room.

“Channie-hyuuuung!” Changbin was trying to sound casual but panic still coloured his voice. “The wall is on fire!”

 

“How the-” Chan growled, cutting of what was evidently going to be at least one expletive.

“I wanna see!” Jisung yelled and ran off to the back room before anybody could stop him. “Wow!” his voice was more muted through the curtain but the excitement was amplified. “It’s like really on fire!”

“Han Jisung, don’t you dare try magic on that!” Chan threatened.

Woojin stood in his way as Chan tried to stalk after him. “I’ve got it, Channie.”

“But-”

“I’ve got it,” Woojin repeated, holding Chan firmly by the shoulders as Seungmin and Jeongin slipped past them to see what the fuss was about. “I’ve put out hundreds of fires, I can handle this one.”

“But I-” Chan protested feebly.

“-have a meeting you’re late for,” Woojin finished for him. He pressed a kiss to Chan’s lips and whirled him around while he was still trying to come up with an excuse. Woojin opened the door and nudged Chan out onto the street. “Have fun!”

 

With the door firmly shut, Chan on the other side, and the sign turned to ‘CLOSED’ for the time being Woojin hurried to the back room. The five kids were standing in the dark room staring at a glowing hole in the plaster.

“Changbinnie?” Woojin asked, glad to see any flames there were had died down.

“Yup,” Changbin answered cheerfully.

“How?” Woojin pulled over a stool so he could get eye-level with the damage. If it was an electrical fire then he couldn’t put water on it.

“The crystal concentrated the light from the lamp,” Changbin said, in a neutral third person. Not an electrical fire then. That made things easier.

“Oh, the crystal did it?” Woojin said lightly, taking a sip from a glass on Changbin’s desk to confirm that yes, it was water, before pouring it over a spare rag and climbing on to the chair. “You weren’t involved at all?”

“Uh, I just put it down so I could show Lixie-”

“ _You_ put it down in the light?” Woojin asked, hoping to make Changbin see his role in the outcome. He pressed the rag against the charred edges of the plaster and the boys ‘ooh’ed at the smoke. “Were you not taught to be careful of light sources in your apprenticeship?”

“...Yes,” Changbin admitted reluctantly. “I can fix the hole tomorrow?” he offered hesitantly.

“What a great idea!” Woojin beamed at him and jumped down from the chair now the wall wasn’t smoldering.

Seungmin stared at him in awe. “Teach me how to do that.”

“The last thing you need to learn, little puppy, is psychological coercion,” Woojin said, ruffling Seungmin’s fluffy hair so it fell over his eyes. “Now, what do you kids want for dinner?” He held up his hand as Jisung was already taking a breath in to yell at the top of his lungs. “And before you start- yes, it does have to contain vegetables.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the ride! 
> 
> Now, same as last time I want to run a poll in the comments for what comes next in this series.  
> The very next thing is already OT9 as per a previous request and I'm hoping to keep it relatively short and not a huge story arc like the last two but if you have requests please let me know!!
> 
> Requests can include particular characters you want to see more of (Felix is going to feature heavily in the next one), adoption stories like this, or an expansion on a nugget of information I teased (for example, this fic was from the multiple requests of people who wanted to know why woojin had been arrested from the first fic)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Awkward Silence](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21968113) by [whereisthedamnlostandfound](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whereisthedamnlostandfound/pseuds/whereisthedamnlostandfound)




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